Monday, March 31, 2008
Treatment Options For Skin Cancer
Most people are unable to treat skin cancer on time because they do not come to know that they have skin cancer. Certain outgrowths, moles and discoloration on the skin are taken as normal skin problems. When someone is confirmed about his or her illness related to skin cancer, the panic starts.
However, there is absolutely no need to panic about skin cancer as there are a lot of treatments available.
First and foremost, you need to speak to your skin doctor to determine the actual problem you are suffering from. Your physicians would like to take details regarding a lot of events related to you such as your age, medical history, extent of the disease, tolerance for a certain medication, therapy or procedure and your overall opinion for the problem that exists.
- There are many treatment options available for skin cancer. Here is a list of some great treatment options which will be considered:
a) Surgery
b) Radiation therapy
c) Electrochemo therapy
d) Immunotherapy
e) Hyperthermia
f) Photodynamic therapy
g) Nutritional therapy
h) Pain management
i) Naturopathy
j) Psycho-neuroimmunology
k) Spiritual support therapy
l) Biological therapy
Let us discuss the therapies mentioned above in detail:
a) Surgery
Surgery is the oldest existing form of treatment for skin cancer. The treatment eliminates the tumor as well as certain adjacent healthy tissues. This stops the cancer from spreading further. Some doctors also use skin peel such as the TCA skin peel that has been quite effective in treating skin cancer.
There are different types of surgeries used to treat skin cancer such as cryosurgery, electro-desiccation and curettage, grafting, laser therapy, Mohs micrographic surgery, simple excision. Cryosurgery is used to freeze the tumor. This helps in exterminating cancer cells. Electro-desiccation and curettage burns the lesion and eliminates it with a sharp instrument. Grafting is another type of surgery where a skin graft is used to replace damaged skin while removing the cancer.
The Mohs micrographic surgery is helpful in removing the cancer. A microscope is used to inspect the cancerous area in order to ensure that none of the cancer cells are present. The process of simple excision cutting the cancer from the skin and some of the healthy tissue round it.
b) Radiation therapy
This is a therapy that emits X-rays in order to exterminate cancer cells and also to shrink tumors. The therapy is conducted with the help of a radiation machine. It can be applied to any part of the body successfully to get good results.
c) Electro-chemotherapy
This therapy uses a combination of chemotherapy as well as electrical pulses in order to treat cancer.
d) Chemotherapy
This therapy for skin cancer treats by providing several cancer fighting drugs in the body. These drugs tend to exterminate cancer cells via hampering their development and regeneration.
e) Immunotherapy
It treats skin cancer via enhancing the immune system of the body with certain doses of tumor vaccines, interferon-Alfa and interleukins-2.
f) Photo-dynamic therapy
It is a new cancer therapy. An injection of photofrin is given to the patient once the cancer cell is subject to a laser beam.
Skin Cancer Cure
Cancer has proved to be a difficult disease to cure, and this applies to many forms of cancer, including skin cancer. The most serious form of cancer is malignant cancer. It is almost always fatal if not detected early and treated. It is characterized by the ability to grow and divide at an abnormal rate, to destroy healthy cells around it and to spread to other parts of the body. Benign cancer is different because it does not spread and thus it can be treated effectively. Cancer occurs when the body is exposed to a carcinogen or because of some hereditary reason. This is partly why it is almost impossible to cure cancer as it is essentially the mutation of the body's cells by some external force like radiation in the case of skin cancer. Consequently much research into cancer has focused on detection and treating of cancer. The same applies for skin cancer. Although there is not a definitive cure for skin cancer there are a number of treatments that are highly effective in eradicating the disease from the body.
Common treatments for skin cancer involve freezing the cancerous cells or cutting them away from the body. In the case of a benign cancer like basal cell carcinoma this could be seen as a cure as it stops the cancer at that location. However continued exposure to the sun could cause other benign cancers to appear at different parts of the body. They could also be cut away.
Malignant cancers, like melanoma are also treated by using liquid nitrogen or by cutting out in the early stages. However it is not always clear whether all the cancerous cells have been removed and they could continue to develop and spread.
Unfortunately, none of these skin cancer removal techniques can really be considered a cure. Liquid nitrogen may not penetrate deeply enough to kill all of the cells - allowing the cancer to come back, and even surgery may leave a rogue cell or two behind, also allowing the cancer to return. Thus while skin cancer treatments are not really a cure for skin cancer they are highly effective. They are also easy to do and can be completed within 30 minutes to an hour depending on the type of cancer.
