What is the most leading cause of death in the United States today? Heart Disease. Second to that is cancer. This monster with its uncontrollable rapid growth and division, claiming an overwhelming death toll of 591,699 in the last five years, according to Hannah Nichols reviewed by Dr. Timothy J. Legg, PhD, CRNP, on MedicalNewsToday1. Unlike normal cells, cancer cells don’t die after their cycle, but they continue to spread abnormally, which attacks the body, causing the body to eventually deteriorate and shut down. The result: death.
Cancer takes on various forms, mutations and causes, where there are more than 100 types of cancer diagnosed worldwide. More specifically, we will be focusing on the cancer lying under your skin. This cancer is the easiest to find because it develops right where you can see it. Skin Cancer and its three most common forms.
The Three Common Types of Skin Cancer
There are two most common forms of skin cancer: squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC). These two are highly curable as opposed to the third most common skin cancer, Melanoma, which is more dangerous and causes the most deaths.4 With BCC, it comes in first as the most common form of skin cancer, although treatable, it does leave the victim misconfigured or scarred. SCC is less common and in rare cases, it contributes to the death rate, but not as much as the invasive melanoma cases. Over the years, the number of melanoma cases have increased where the number of patients treated have risen by 44% from 2002 to 2011.
Diagnosing Skin Cancer
It’s common sense for one to check with a doctor should anything be amiss or slightly worrisome. With skin cancer, we leave it to the professionals who deal with skin- dermatologists. Many people usually won’t feel any different or sick if they have skin cancer without realizing it and often times, they’ll only notice if they see a suspicious spot. For diagnostics, we can follow the ABCDE rule, where each letter represents steps or indicators on early detection for the key in survival. “A” stand for asymmetry where the two pigmented areas don’t match, “B” is for border irregularity where there are indentations of strange formations, “C” is based off of color where irregular colors appear such as black, brown, red or yellow, “D” is the diameter where it can become larger than 6 mm which equates to the size of a pencil eraser and finally, “E” , which stands for evolution, where we observe the rate that it adapts, changes and evolves. The main cause of skin cancer is UV radiation or ultraviolet light which are invisible forms of radiation caused by tanning beds and even exposure from the sun. Skin cancer occurs when the DNA in skin cells become mutated, affecting even areas that aren’t directly exposed to the sun’s rays.
Underneath our skin, we have 5 layers of the epidermis, the top layer acting as protection. Within these, there are 3 types of cells in the first layer of the epidermis. These are squamous cells, basal cells and melanocytes. As the skin cancer evolves, it gains the ability to grow past the epidermis and into deeper layers of the skin, thus increasing the dangers of the cancer.
With skin cancer, there are also risk factors from genetics, such as, those with pale or light skin tones, light hair such as blond, light colored, freckles and mostly people whose skin turns red from being in the sun too long. One can observe that someone white people or pale skinned people tend to be more easily sun burned than other, which exposes them to more risk for skin cancer. The same is said for those who had a history of skin cancer in their family.
BCC generally occurs in areas that are exposed to the sun such as your neck. They often appear as a pearly lump, a flat, brown lesion, or a bleeding scab that periodically returns. SCC occur on sun exposed areas such as your face and hands, but people who have darker skin have a possibility of developing this form on areas that aren’t’ directly exposed. Symptoms can appear as red nodules or flat lesions with surfaces that appear to be crusted. Melanoma are capable of developing anywhere on the body. On males, it usually develops on the face while it often appears on the legs for women. This form can also develop on skin that isn’t directed exposed. Symptoms of melanoma include painful lesions that itch or burn, any mole that changes in size or color, or even dark lesions that appear in various areas such as your nose, palms or even the anus.5
Treatment
We can say that in the case of skin cancer, UV exposure is the main culprit. Which means- time to throw out those tanning beds and sunlight reflectors. UV exposure or rays from the sunlight causes the melanocytes in the skin to produce more melanin which results in the tan that you may want, but as a result, it causes damage to the skin cells and DNA in your skin. When you get to the point of a sunburn, then your cells in your skin have just died. Sure, someone will tell you to put sunscreen, but in fact, some sunscreens can even become one of the causes to skin cancer. Like mention before, if the symptoms are detected early on, it increases the chance of treating it, whereas, if not discovered, the tumor could grow larger and pose a bigger threat.
There are many treatments for the common skin cancer, some of which include, Mohs Surgery, Excisional Surgery, cryosurgery, and laser surgery. Mohs Surgery is used for treating SCCs, BCCs and some cases of melanomas, but it is recommended for cases that are severe or growing at a rapid pace. While, with excisional surgery, it suggests the use of a scalpel for removing tumors that are discovered at an earlier point before spreading. Cryosurgery, cryo-ice, is the process of eradication by freezing tumor tissue with liquid nitrogen. This procedure is not as efficient where it requires repeated surgeries in order to completely eliminate all malignant cells. However, cryosurgery has a lower cure rate and is not commonly used for invasive SCCs due to its low accuracy of reaching deeper areas of the tumor. Finally, with laser surgery, doctors handle various types of lasers to deal with forms of skin cancer. CO2 lasers vaporize while others use heat to deal with tumors. Utilizing light of a specific wavelength allows doctors to eliminate certain SCCs that reside in the superficial layer of the skin while the deeper layers require some anaesthesia.
Why is it important?
It is always important to know the ways to diagnose or detect symptoms early on in order to prevent major issues later on. If one can prevent misfortune or sickness, then obviously one would promptly attempt to take said measures. Cancer is a very serious illness that affects many people. It comes in many forms and each with its own types of danger. Perhaps, someone in your family has a form of cancer, such as breast cancer or even pancreatic cancer which is a very severe type. With cancer or anything in retrospect, one should expect the unexpected, because anything could happen. No one is able to predict the future.
In the summer of my middle school years, my older brother was diagnosed with Leukaemia, cancer of the white blood cells. It could’ve been due to his unhealthy eating habits, the possible radiation from his everyday computer use, and even the lack of proper sleep which gives the body the time it needs to recover and rest. Without any notice, we received a call from my crying brother who, only the age of 20/21, was in the hospital with the diagnosis that he had cancer. For the next few years, we had to find hospitals who could help cure him with treatments- like chemotherapy. Eventually, with the help of Kaiser Permanente, we were able to get the help we needed. It never fully got to the point where they needed the bone marrow from his little sister, because I heard the procedure hurts a lot- like, a shit ton. Looking back, this was the time when his face was incredibly swollen. Somewhere in one of my closets, there should be in my Nintendo DS, a picture of my swollen, chunky faced brother, who I appropriately named “Chipmunk”. He’s completely fine now (if that’s what you’re wondering). If you look at him now, he’s a muscular, semi-bald, hardworking sheriff of the law enforcement.
Moral of the story, cancer is extremely dangerous and getting sick can happen to anyone or everyone. It always helps to know more about, whether it is read out curiosity or just for a research paper. Skin cancer is just one out of many countless forms of cancer. Perhaps, in the near future, you could become a doctor who finds the cure for cancers, a scientist, or even someone who can help in this journey of discovery.
2019-6-28-1561710652