Cancer Treatment & Information

What are the symptoms of Skin Cancer?

A basal cell carcinoma (BCC) usually looks like a raised, smooth, pearly bump on the sun-exposed skin of the head, neck, or shoulders.

• Small blood vessels may be visible within the tumor.
• A central depression with crusting and bleeding (ulceration) frequently develops.
• A BCC is often mistaken for a sore that does not heal.

A squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is commonly a well-defined, red, scaling, thickened patch on sun-exposed skin.

• Like BCCs, SCCs may ulcerate and bleed.
• Left untreated, SCC may develop into a large mass.

The majority of malignant melanomas are brown to black pigmented lesions.

• Warning signs include change in size, shape, color, or elevation of a mole.
• The appearance of a new mole during adulthood, or new pain, itching, ulceration, or bleeding of an existing mole should all be checked by a health-care provider.

The following easy-to-remember guideline, “ABCD,” is useful for identifying malignant melanoma:

• Asymmetry—One side of the lesion does not look like the other.
• Border irregularity—Margins may be notched or irregular.
• Color—Melanomas are often a mixture of black, tan, brown, blue, red, or white.
• Diameter—Cancerous lesions are usually larger than 6 mm across (about the size of a pencil eraser), but any change in size may be significant.

How is Skin Cancer diagnosed?

Doctors often can recognize skin cancer just by looking at it.

• Encourage your doctor to look for growths by doing a complete examination of the entire skin surface during a physical examination at least once a year; more often if you already have a past history of skin cancer.
• Many people detect skin cancer themselves while doing a regular skin self-examination. A biopsy, however, is the only certain way of identifying skin cancer, and determining the specific type of cancer. In a biopsy, the doctor removes cells or tissues for examination under a microscope. The examination usually is done by a dermatopathologist, a doctor who studies diseased tissue under a microscope.

Two types of biopsy are done for most skin cancers:

• An excisional biopsy excises, or cuts away, the entire visible growth. For small nonmelanoma skin cancer, an excisional biopsy may also be the only treatment necessary, whereas other cancers like malignant melanoma generally require additional removal of a wider margin of normal tissue around the site.
• An incisional biopsy, or core biopsy, removes only a sample of the growth. Further treatment is necessary if the microscopic examination reveals cancer cells. This is the most common type of biopsy.

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