What Is Skin Cancer?

There are billions of cells scattered over your body in every square inch of skin. Your skin is the largest organ in your body and provides an important barrier to keep you protected from the sun, heat, abrasion, and infection. It also stores water, fat, and vitamin D. It regulates body temperature and helps control blood pressure through its ability to sweat. The Epidermis (upper or outer layer) and the Dermis (inner layer) are the two primary layers of the skin (lower or inner layer). Together they form a barrier between your body and the outside world.

There are various reasons why malignant cells may develop in the tissues of the skin. This condition is called skin cancer.

Skin cancer is a form of cancer that forms in the tissues of the skin. If left unchecked it can spread to other parts of the body. Most skin cancers form in older people on parts of the body exposed to the sun or in people who have weakened immune systems. Skin cancer can occur anywhere on the body, but it is most common when the skin is often exposed to sunlight, such as on the face, neck, hands, and arms.

Types Of Skin Cancer

Skin cancer cells are developed in the epidermis, which is made up of three different types of cells:

• Squamous Cells: It is also called squamous cells carcinoma. Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common form of skin cancer.Squamous cells are found in the deepest layer of the epidermis and help protect your body from bacteria, injury, and other threats. When a small patch of abnormal squamous cells (composing most of the epidermis) grows uncontrollably, it can lead to this type of cancer.
• Basal Cells: Also known as basal cells carcinoma where squamous cells are surrounded by round cells. BCC is the most common cancer. It arises when skin’s basal cells grow in an abnormal and uncontrolled manner. Basal cells are those that line the outermost layer of the skin, which helps protect a person from harmful elements such as ultraviolet rays from the sun.

• Melanocytes: Melanin-producing cells are present at the bottom layer. Melanoma is a potentially deadly form of skin cancer marked by the growth of malignant tumour cells on the skin. The disease starts when unrepaired DNA damage to skin cells prompts mutation and leads to uncontrolled growth and spread of new abnormal cells.

Symptoms Of Skin Cancer

You may experience the following symptoms if you have Basal cell carcinoma, Squamous Cell Carcinoma or Melanoma:

• In BCC, small red or pink, waxy or shiny lumps appears.
• If one has SCC, small pink lump with a hard or scaly or crusty skin can be observed.
• Melanoma usually take its start as a dark spot or mole.

You are highly likely to know you have skin cancer if a new growth appears on your skin, or if the size, shape or colour of an existing growth changes. You can also monitor any moles or marks on your skin regularly to see if they change at all. See below for descriptions of the signs and symptoms of some common types of skin cancer.

• Basal cells carcinoma: Basal cell skin cancer is the most common form of skin cancer. It’s most often found on sun-exposed parts of the body, such as your face, arms and legs which are the most common sites for basal cell cancer. It grows slowly in most people and doesn’t spread to other areas of the body or cause death.
• The following mentioned are some of the symptoms for this type of cancer:
• 1. Appearance of a little, smooth, pearly or waxy lump on the most common area such as face, ears, and neck.
  2. A lesion on the trunk, arms, or legs that is flat, pink/red, or brown in colour.
  3. Even scar-like patches can be seen on the body.
  4. Crusty sores, sores with a depression in the middle, or sores that bleed a lot can be noticed.
• Squamous cells carcinoma: Exposure to the sun is one of the main causes of squamous cell cancer. It often occurs in sun-exposed areas, including the face, head and neck, hands, forearms, lower legs and feet. This type of skin cancer can also develop on mucous membranes and the genitals.
• The signs and symptoms include:
• 1. A firm pink or reddish nodule can be seen.
  2. A rough, scaly lesion that itch, bleeds, and crusts over.
• Melanocytes: Melanoma is the most dangerous sort of skin cancer. It can appear anywhere on your body, but it seems to grow in places most people never think about looking: the eyes and inside organs. The most dangerous type of skin cancer, it can spread quickly to other parts of your body. In men, the upper back is a popular place; in women, the legs are a common sight.
• Learn how to identify melanoma, its symptoms include:
• 1. A patch or bump which is brown pigmented.
  2. A mole which changes colour, grows or bleeds.

Cause Of Skin Cancer

Skin cancer can be caused by a variety of risk factors including age, environment, and genetic predisposition. Most skin cancers are naturally modulated by the immune system or by mutational repair mechanisms. When the immune system is compromised or there is a faulty mutation repair gene, it results in the development of malignant cells which eventually grow into a tumour. The most common risk factors involved in skin cancer are:

• Sun Exposure
• Weakened or Suppressed Immune System
• Indoor Tanning
• Fair Skin
• Race/Ethnicity
• Merker Cell Polyomavirus
• Gender and Age
• History of Sunburn or Fragile Skin
• Inherited Syndrome
• Arsenic Exposure
• Having a lot of moles (50)
• Skin cancer history

Diagnosis and Tests of Skin Cancer

Unlike melanoma, most non-melanoma skin cancers are not life-threatening. These cancers are more often discovered by patients or family members and treated in their early stages. Many tests are used by doctors to detect or diagnose cancer and also perform tests to see if cancer has migrated to other parts of the body from where it began or not

ABCDEs are a simple guideline to watch for melanoma warning signs. The American Cancer Society states that any skin lesion meeting 3 or more of the ABCDE points should be suspected as a melanoma and further investigated by a medical professional. By knowing what to look for, you can catch melanomas early when they are much easier to treat.

There are many ways to detect skin cancer, the most common diagnostic tests used are as follows:

• Mole mapping: Digital photos and body diagrams let you record changes over time so that you can monitor your moles and growths for skin cancer and can understand how a mole changes over time.
• Dermoscopy: Dermoscopy is a hand-held instrument used to light up and magnify skin lesions for a physician. It is used for patients who have abnormalities in the skin but are not able to travel, such as infants and bed-ridden patients.
• Biopsy: : If a suspicious patch of skin is first detected by the doctor, a biopsy may be recommended. A biopsy is a piece of tissue that is removed for examination with a microscope. The type of biopsy performed depends on where in the skin the cancer is located. Skin tissue samples are removed by scraping, cutting, or burning the skin. With excisions and shave biopsies, some healthy skin may be removed as well as the abnormal tissue.
• Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM): ): Laser technology makes it possible to view images of each layer of tissue without harming the skin. The soft tissue shows up as black and the blood vessels as red in the image. It is the same as the ultrasound.
• Scans: Your doctor may need to use special imaging tests, such as x-rays, CT scans, or PET scans to determine if the cancer has spread. These tests also help determine if the tumor is operable and plan your treatment.
• Blood tests: This test may be done to identify patients with a family history of melanoma, who may be at greater risk for developing skin cancer.

Stages Of Skin Cancer

When doctors find skin cancer, they will try to figure out if it has spread to other parts of the body. To do this, they look at the thickness of the melanoma and how far it has grown into the skin. This process is known as Staging. This information helps doctors plan treatment for you and tells them how likely it is that your cancer will come back after treatment ends. BCC in most cases doesn’t need the staging process as it very rarely spreads. It comes into stage part only if the size enlarges. So, the staging process is mainly for SCC as they can spread even if it’s still rare. Doctors can use the TNM (tumour, node, metastases) system to stage cancer.

Mainly the stage is based on the following:

• Size growth
• The deepness of the growth under the skin.
• Spreading to nearby lymph nodes or the other parts of the body.

Based on the above mentioned, stages of skin cancer are classified as:

Stage 0: It is also known as Bowen’s disease or carcinoma in situ. Bowen’s disease is an early form of cancer. Because Bowen’s disease can often look like a rash, it can be hard to diagnose. Your doctor might try to determine if you have Bowen’s disease by looking at your skin. If you are diagnosed with Bowen’s disease, most people will develop squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in the future unless the condition is treated.

Stage 1: Cancer has 1 or no high-risk features. It is 2cm across or less. If the cancer is more than 2mm thick it is considered a high-risk feature and has grown in the lower dermis, into the space around a nerve, and started on the ear or lip by looking very abnormal under the microscope.

Stage 2: If the cancer is 2cm across and contains two or more high-risk features it is said to be stage 2 cancer.

Stage 3: If the lymph nodes on the same side of the head and neck as the cancer are enlarged or if cancer has spread to a nearby lymph node that is less than 3cm, this is known as stage 4.

Stage 4: Cancer has either grown into the bones or grown into an internal organ such as the lungs. Cancer may have spread to other places in the body, such as lymph nodes (small round bodies found throughout the body) or other parts of the body, such as the bones or other organs.

Treatment And Surgery for Skin Cancer

Skin cancer treatment is a complicated matter, and there are different options to choose from. The main goal of the treatment is to completely remove all traces of the disease, which means that in some cases, the use of more than one method is necessary. The choice of treatment particularly depends on the size and location of the tumour. Most doctors would recommend treatments depending on the condition. Treatment options can be categorized into medications and procedures. Medication includes several topical therapies and drugs which are injected or taken orally. While as, Procedures comprise of surgeries, radiation therapy, and laser and light-based treatments.

Surgery remains the most common treatment for skin cancer. Other options for the treatment are listed below:

• Mohs Micrographic Surgery: The Mohs Micrographic Surgery Technique is a procedure in which the tumour is examined under the microscope to determine if it is cancerous or precancerous. Once the skin has been examined and diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, only cancerous tissue is removed. This method has an extremely high cure rate because it completely removes all of the tumour.
• Simple excision with frozen or permanent sectioning of margin evaluation: This treatment relies on a tumour margin of 3 to 10 mm, depending on the diameter of the tumour. Recurrence is common because only a small fraction of the total tumour margin is examined pathologically.
• Electrocautery and Curettage: Basal cell carcinomas are common, particularly in the sun-exposed skin. This method is the most widely employed method for removing primary basal cell carcinomas. Even it is a quick method for destroying the tumour, so the adequacy of treatment cannot be assessed immediately since the surgeon cannot visually detect the depth of microscopic tumour invasion.
• Cryosurgery: Cryosurgery may be considered for small, clinically well-defined primary tumours. It is especially useful for debilitated patients with medical conditions that preclude other types of surgery. Procedures can usually be performed on an outpatient basis and do not require hospitalization unless complications occur. There are no known long-term side effects associated with cryosurgery, so many patients can return to normal activities within hours of their procedure.
• Radiation Therapy: Radiation therapy is sometimes used as a surgical adjuvant but can be used as the primary treatment option. It is a logical choice for primary lesions requiring difficult or extensive surgery (e.g., eyelids, nose, and ears). This modality can also be used to treat recurrences after a primary surgical approach.
• Chemotherapy: Hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion (HILP) is an option for treating malignant melanoma, which is often used for tumours in an arm or leg that frequently reoccur but remain confined to that area.
• Carbon Dioxide Laser: This method is most frequently applied to the superficial type of basal cell carcinoma. The laser treatment is generally carried out under local anesthesia and may be considered when a bleeding diathesis is present since bleeding is unusual when this laser is used.
• Topical Fluorouracil (5-FU): ): This method may be helpful in the management of selected patients with superficial basal cell carcinomas.
• Systemic Retinoid: Many clinical trials have shown some efficacy for currently available systemic retinoids in both chemotherapy as well as chemoprevention, the long-term toxicity of these agents generally excludes them as treatment choices for most patients.
• Photodynamic Therapy: Photodynamic therapy with photosensitizers may be an effective treatment for superficial epithelial skin tumours.

Care After the Treatment Of Cancer

At the end of cancer treatment, Follow-up care is an important part of the cancer treatment process. Follow-up care checks for recurrence or metastasis, but it is also important to check for changes in health that may be a result of the cancer treatment. It helps to identify changes in health, both good and bad. The purpose of follow-up care visits is to check on recurrence or metastasis, as well as other health concerns that may develop months to years after treatment ends. Follow-up care will also help to prevent other cancers from developing and can help you maintain your quality of life. Sun protection is so important, so please make sure you do what you can to protect your skin from the sun. Contact your GP or specialist, if you spot any signs of another skin cancer between check-ups.

Skin Cancer, Its Treatment and Surgery In India

It is never easy to deal with skin cancer, especially if it’s on the face. You need to be sure that your treatment will cure it properly and safely. In India, many hospitals offer the best surgical pathologists, and dermatopathologists are known for their expertise in handling skin cancer cases. These hospitals help you in selecting the most appropriate combination of treatments for your skin cancer. Indian Doctors are committed to providing the highest quality of individualized care to their patients with skin disorders.

Indian Hospitals offer the best skin cancer treatment in India. Hospitals in India offers state-of-the-art facilities and extremely professional health care team to give the best results to their patients. When treating people with skin cancer, Indian doctors combine advanced medical treatment with complementary therapies to provide you with the highest level of comfort while undergoing treatment.

Cities Offering Best Skin Cancer Treatment in India

There are many hospitals across India. But some places provide the best treatment for skin cancer. You should choose a hospital that has a reputation for treating all types of cancer. To do so, it needs to be able to offer cutting-edge technology, equipment, and doctors who are well versed in the latest cancer treatments. A well-known cancer hospital will employ the best and most experienced doctors including medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists. Some of them are listed below:

• Medanta- The Medicity, Gurgaon
• Blk Super Speciality Hospital, New Delhi
• Max Super Specialty Hospital New Delhi
• Indraprastha Apollo Hospital New Delhi
• Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai
• Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon
• Fortis Memorial Research Institute (Fmri) Gurgaon
• Artemis Hospital, Gurgaon
• Hcg Hospitals, Bangalore
• Fortis Hosptial, Noida
• Jaypee Hospital Noida
• Manipal Hospital Bangalore
• Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, New Delhi
• Pushpawati Singhania Research Institute, New Delhi
• Narayana Multispecialty Hospital, Bengaluru

Survival Rate Of Skin Cancer In India

Skin cancer is the most commonly treated medical tourism procedure in India. Patients with skin cancer who undergo treatment in India have significantly higher survival rates than those treated elsewhere in the world.

As for melanoma survival rate for five years:

• Stages 0, 1 and 2 is very high i.e., 98.4%.
• Melanoma stage 3 is 63.6%.
• Melanoma stage 4 is 22.5%.

The survival rate for basal cells and squamous cells:

• Both cancers are very treatable and have high survival rates. The five-year survival rate for basal cell carcinoma is 100% and for squamous cell carcinoma is 95%.

FAQs for Gastric Cancer or Stomach Cancer

Q1. Is there any possibility that skin cancer can heal by itself?

Ans. Melanoma on the skin can go away on its own since the body’s immune system can attack the disease. If the disease is small, it might be removed surgically or treated with other treatments.

Q2. Who is eligible for the treatment of cancer?

Ans. Any person suffering from skin cancer is eligible to receive treatment for the same.

Q3. Who does not require the skin cancer treatment?

Ans. Doctors try to avoid radiation therapy for treating young people with skin cancer as radiotherapy sometimes ends up increasing chances of cancer in other parts of the body in the future. Radiation damages not just the surface cells but also damages cells deeper inside the body, which may lead to additional health problems later on.

Q4. Is skin cancer itchy?

Ans. Itching is a common symptom of Skin Cancer which can lead to redness or rashes. It can occur anywhere in the body and may be painless or it may even cause bleeding. Differentiate between itching caused due to irritation, and that of Skin Cancer by taking time to notice patterns, frequency and intensity of the symptom.

Q5. What is the time needed by the person to recover?

Ans. The length of the recovery period really depends on the type of treatment that the patient went through. However, whether it was surgery or otherwise, it should not take a patient more than a week to a few months to recover completely. There are several factors that affect the healing time and one of them is age. Younger patients heal faster than older ones and so do women as compared to men.

Q6. Can we leave the cancer untreated for long?

Ans. Skin cancer should be diagnosed after the appearance of the symptoms. The treatment for the cure of this disease is necessary. In case, if it is left untreated, the survival rate for five years is only 89%.

Q7. Can you suggest some foods to help fight melanoma?

Ans. Retinol is a form of vitamin A, and has been shown to help prevent cancer, including melanoma. Eating more retinol-rich foods like fish, milk, eggs, dark green leafy vegetables and orange/yellow fruits and vegetables can lower the risk of developing this disease.

Q8. Are there factors which can show the danger of recurrence?

Ans. Some of the factors include:

• There's an increased risk of recurrence when the melanomas are located on the head, neck, feet, and hands
• Form of ulcer from the first melanoma
• Lymph nodes positive for melanoma

Q9. What are the additional remedies one can use after the operation?

Ans. The two additional remedies one can use are: Intra-arterial extract and nearby radiation treatment.

Q10. Are skin cancer deadly?

Ans. Skin cancer is a condition where abnormal cells grow in the skin. Skin cancer may be curable if the treatment is started on time. Changes in the skin, including new growths and lesions are precancerous and can get transformed into cancer if left untreated. There are many kinds of cancer that can develop in the skin; among them are melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma. But melanoma detects as a malignant form with high death-rates due to lack of treatment on time.