Skin Cancer Surgery Offers a Second Chance

There is just one chance that you get to create a first impression. And often the person who manages to project the best image the first time creates the best impression. However, if you are suffering from skin cancer then you do get a second chance with the help of skin cancer surgery.

There are some general rules for this surgery. The treatment of skin cancer depends on the general state of health of the person suffering, age of the patient, location age and most importantly the cancer type. This treatment is performed by the skin specialist i.e. the dermatologist.

The different type of treatments for skin cancer includes:

· Surgery

· Chemotherapy

· Radiotherapy

· Medications and others

Surgery

This is the most common treatment option for skin cancer. Very often this surgery is performed in the outpatient ambulance as it is only a small ambulatory procedure. The treatments performed are:

· Excision: These are small tumours which can easily be excised with the help of scalpel. This treatment is performed under local anaesthesia. In this treatment the cancer along with a small amount of healthy tissue around the affected area is excised. This is to ensure that all cancer cells are removed completely. The resulting wound is sutured and is removed after few days.

· Cryosurgery: In this treatment liquid nitrogen is applied on the cancer to freeze it. These are often used for small pre cancerous growths and are a painless procedure.

· Curretage: The treatment is done by scraping the lesion with a sharp instrument. It is then treated with electrodessication to kill the remaining cancer and to stop bleeding.

· Laser: It is used to remove small superficial cancer

· Micrographic Surgery: In this process cancer is removed layer by layer. Before removing each layer it is checked under microscope if it contains cancerous cells. This method is generally used for large and aggressive cancer forms.

Chemotherapy

This treatment is about treating the cancer with the help of anti cancer drugs. There are two types of it:

· Topical Chemotherapy: It is a cream or lotion that contains anti cancer drugs. This lotion is applied on the cancer. These are used for small and superficial cancers.

· Systematic Chemotherapy: It is used in case the cancer spreads to other organs. In this treatment the anti cancer drugs are administered in the form of intravenous injections, intramuscular injections and pills.

Radiotherapy

In this treatment process the cancer cells are killed with the help of high energy X-ray beams. This treatment is usually performed for cancers on the face which cannot easily be removed with the help of surgery. It is a painless procedure.