Once you receive treatment for skin cancer, it is important to talk to your doctor about what kind of follow-up care you will need. You should check in with your doctor for regular appointments to make sure the cancer has not come back or spread. These appointments are usually every several months for the first year. You should also continue to check your skin frequently for any new symptoms in case the cancer returns. If you notice any side effects of treatment, or if you notice any new skin lesions, talk to your doctor right away.
Skin Cancer Treatment
Treatment for skin cancer depends on the type of skin cancer you have and its stage. When caught early, most skin cancers can be easily treated as an outpatient procedure with a very high cure rate. Treatments include surgery, chemotherapy (as a topical cream or oral medication) and radiation.
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See All 2 AnswersSkin cancer has a 95% cure rate when it is discovered early and surgically removed from the skin. When people catch the skin changes themselves, the cancer is usually at an earlier, more curable stage.
Researchers reported that they saw success treating melanoma with modified herpes viruses. When researchers injected the virus into the skin where melanoma was, the virus attacked the cancer cells, eliminating them. This research is indeed useful, and this treatment may interfere with the growth of melanomas, but it is not known if the cancer will return somewhere else and if this treatment works on melanoma that has spread.
Prevention and awareness are the best defenses in the fight against melanoma. -
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Riverside Cancer Care Center answeredSee All 2 AnswersThere are several methods of surgery for skin cancer. The method your doctor uses depends mainly on the type of skin cancer, the size of the cancer and where it was found on your body.
Your doctor can further describe these methods of surgery:
Excisional skin surgery: This is a common treatment to remove any type of skin cancer. After numbing the area of skin, the surgeon removes the growth (tumor) with a scalpel. The surgeon also removes a border (a margin) of normal skin around the growth. The margin of skin is examined under a microscope to be certain that all the cancer cells have been removed. The thickness of the margin depends on the size of the tumor.
Mohs surgery (also called Mohs micrographic surgery): This method is often used for basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers. After numbing the area of skin, a specially trained surgeon shaves away thin layers of the tumor. Each layer is examined under a microscope. The surgeon continues to shave away tissue until no cancer cells can be seen under the microscope. In this way, the surgeon can remove all the cancer and only a small bit of healthy tissue. Some people will have radiation therapy after Mohs surgery to make sure all of the cancer cells are destroyed.
Electrodesiccation and curettage: This method is often used to remove a small basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer. After the doctor numbs the area to be treated, the cancer is removed with a sharp tool shaped like a spoon (called a curette). The doctor then uses a needle-shaped electrode to send an electric current into the treated area to control bleeding and kill any cancer cells that may be left. This method is usually fast and simple. It may be performed up to three times to remove all of the cancer.
Cryosurgery: This method is an option for an early-stage or a very thin basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer. Cryosurgery is often used for people who are not able to have other types of surgery. The doctor applies liquid nitrogen (which is extremely cold) directly to the skin growth to freeze and kill the cancer cells. This treatment may cause swelling. It also may damage nerves, which can cause a loss of feeling in the damaged area.
This answer is based on source information from the National Cancer Institute. -
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With Mohs surgery the same doctor who removes your skin cancer is the same one who examines it. Watch Chrysalyne Schmults, MD, Dermatologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital explain the advantages of this procedure.
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Dr. Ellen Marmur, MD , Dermatology, answered
A topical medicine called imiquimod is an immunomodulator. It is designed to both diagnose cancers and stimulate the body's immune system to rev up an attack on malignant cells. This is a great option for treating actinic keratoses (AKs), in situ squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), or early-stage basal cell carcinoma (BCC) or for someone who has many early or precancerous lesions in one area. It could prevent a potentially disfiguring surgical procedure and can eradicate approximately 80 percent of precancers and early superficial skin cancers.
Imiquimod is applied to an entire area of sun-damaged skin (the forehead, for instance) for four to sixteen weeks. In that time, certain spots may become red, indicating a cancerous lesion, since the redness means that inflammatory cells are attacking in that particular place. Similar in theory to the immunotherapy used for melanoma, this treatment causes the body to recognize and mount an assault on mutant cells. Although they work in different ways, both of these topical therapies are used for the same end point: preventing precancers (or very superficial tumors on the surface of the skin) from becoming cancers or spreading. Unfortunately, the side effects of both medications can include itching, redness, blistering, flaking, and overall irritation.
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Simple Skin Beauty: Every Woman's Guide to a Lifetime of Healthy, Gorgeous Skin
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Dr. Ellen Marmur, MD , Dermatology, answered
For any skin cancer, the patient must see the dermatologist in three months for a skin exam. If you are clear of basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma in that time, the doctor will probably ask to see you again in six months. If at that time you are cancer-free, an annual exam will be fine. But all patients should be checking their own skin and protecting themselves by staying out of the sun and wearing sunscreen every day, since the chance of developing any kind of skin cancer again is higher for them. Topical tretinoin, or retinoic acid, has also been prescribed to help prevent the recurrence of nonmelanoma skin cancers.
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Simple Skin Beauty: Every Woman's Guide to a Lifetime of Healthy, Gorgeous Skin
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HealthyWomen answeredChemotherapy can be a topical cream or lotion placed on the skin to kill cancer cells, an orally ingested drug or a drug that is injected directly into the tumor or a vein or muscle. -
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Regional Medical Center answeredAlternative treatments aren't used to cure skin cancer, and their effectiveness hasn't been proven. However, some alternative options may reduce symptoms and help improve general health. A balanced diet rich in antioxidants may be beneficial for people with skin cancer. Vitamins, especially vitamin D, and herbal supplements may also be used in addition to a healthful diet. Some people with skin cancer may benefit from relaxation techniques like meditation and yoga. Acupuncture may be a helpful alternative treatment to deal with any pain caused by skin cancer.
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HealthyWomen answeredPhotodynamic therapy uses a certain type of light and a special (light-sensitive) chemical to kill cancer cells. Photodynamic therapy can be used to treat actinic keratoses and is also used to treat or shrink non-melanoma skin cancers.
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Johns Hopkins Medicine answeredSee All 3 AnswersMohs surgery - named after the technique's developer, Dr. Frederick E. Mohs - is a highly specialized treatment for the total removal of skin cancer. This method differs from all other methods of treating skin cancer by the use of complete microscopic examination of all the tissues removed surgically as well as detailed mapping techniques to allow the surgeon to remove the entire lesion.
The procedure is performed without hospitalization under a local anesthetic. The visible lesion and a very thin layer of skin are removed with a scalpel, carefully mapped, and examined microscopically.
If there is still cancer seen under the microscope, another very thin layer of skin is removed from that exact location. This is repeated as often as necessary to completely remove the cancer. Mohs surgery removes as little normal tissue as possible, minimizing scarring.
Repairs range from very simple excision and closures of small defects, to complex local tissue rearrangements, and even microvascular free tissue transfer.
The fact that our surgeons specialize in cosmetic facial surgery as a substantial component of their practice leads to high patient satisfaction with the final results.