Skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in the United States, affects approximately 3.5 million people a year, as reported by the Skin Cancer Foundation. There are three main types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma. When detected early, several types of treatment can lead to a cure. Because 65 to 90 percent of skin cancers occur due to exposure to sunlight or UV radiation, most can be prevented by protecting the skin.
Surgery
Surgical procedures to treat skin cancer usually only require a local anesthetic, if any, and doctors perform them on an outpatient basis. The most effective treatment, known as MOHS micrographic surgery, requires doctors to remove the tumor layer by layer. After each layer, doctors examine the tissue for the presence of abnormal cells. The procedure continues until a layer of tissue reveals no abnormal cells. Boasting a cure rate of 98 percent, as reported by the Skin Cancer Foundation, MOHS micrographic surgery removes as little healthy tissue as possible.
Other surgical procedures include excision, in which doctors remove the tumor along with the normal tissue surrounding the tumor, and electrodessication and curettage, in which doctors use a ring-shaped instrument to remove the tumor and then a needle-shaped electrode to destroy the tissue around the edge of the wound. Cryosurgery uses liquid nitrogen to freeze the tumor and provides the advantage of no anesthesia.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy uses high-energy waves similar to X-rays to destroy cancer cells. Doctors can deliver radiation therapy via external beam radiation which focuses the rays from a source outside the body, or by internal delivery using needles or seeds. The type of radiation used depends on the type and stage of cancer. Because melanoma cancer spreads to other parts of the body, doctors rarely use radiation therapy to treat the original tumor, but may use it to treat a recurrence or to relieve symptoms produced by the tumor spreading to the lymph nodes or other organs.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs to kill cancer cells. Usually administered either intravenously or orally, chemotherapy also affects normal healthy cells, which results in side effects such as hair loss, nausea, vomiting, mouth sores, loss of appetite and fatigue.
The Skin Cancer Foundation reports that chemotherapy drugs commonly used to treat melanoma cancers include dacarbazine, often combined with carmustin and tamoxifen, or with ciplatin and vinblastin.
Isolated limb profusion treats skin cancers in the arms or legs by limiting the flow of blood within that limb. This allows doctors to deliver high doses of chemotherapy to eradicate the tumor without exposing the rest of the body to the damaging effects of the drugs.
Photodynamic Therapy
Photodynamic therapy involves the injection of a light-sensitive drug that targets cancer cells. Once it binds to the cancer cells, doctors expose the patient to a laser light which then kills the cancer cells.
