Treatment of skin cancer depends on the
- - type of skin cancer
- - its stage and location
- - individual's age and overall health
People with small basal cell carcinomas, for instance, may need only a simple treatment. That's because basal cell cancers rarely spread to other parts of the body and seldom are fatal.
Squamous cell carcinomas have a greater tendency to spread, and may require more treatments on it.
Malignant melanoma may require complicated treatment because of its high risk for spreading.
Some tiny skin cancers are completely removed and cured during the biopsy. No more treatment is needed. However, most require additional treatment to eliminate all of the cancer cells. Three kinds of treatment are used for most skin cancers. They're:
- Surgery: Taking out or destroying the cancer.
- Chemotherapy: Giving drugs to kill the cancer cells.
- Radiation therapy: Using powerful energy from x-rays or other sources to destroy the cancer cells.
In addition to these, there are other treatment options.
Surgery :
Surgery is the most common treatment for skin cancer. The doctor
may use any of several surgical methods:
Simple excision involves cutting out the tumor with a margin of surrounding normal skin to be sure it is completely removed.
Micrographic surgery (or Mohs surgery) combines surgical removal of cancerous tissue with microscopic examination and immediate identification of the type of cancer a patient has. With a 90%-100% success rate, it is the most effective skin cancer treatment available. The procedure creates the smallest possible defect. Therefore, allowing for the best possible cosmetic result.
It attempts to remove all of the tumor and as little surrounding normal tissue as possible. The doctor removes one layer of tumor, and examines it with a microscope. The process continues until all cancer cells have been removed.
Laser surgeryuses the highly focused beam of light from a laser to destroy cancer cells. It is seldom used for cancers that have not grown beyond the outer layer of the skin.
Modern ways of doing surgery reduce the amount of scar tissue that forms afterward. Nonetheless, skin cancer surgery will leave a visible scar. Its size usually depends on the size of the cancer and the amount of tissue removed during surgery.
Nice To Know:
Micrographic surgery has an advantage aside from leaving the smallest possible scar: It has a very high cure rate. It is generally used for larger, high-risk cancers.
Chemotherapy :
Chemotherapy involves the use of drugs to kill or stop the growth of cancer cells throughout the body. These drugs may be delivered intravenously, by injection or by mouth, also in a lotion or cream applied on the skin.
This localized, or topical, chemotherapy is for superficial tumors that have not advanced beyond the top layer of the skin. Topical chemotherapy usually does not produce nausea or other body-wide side effects. It does cause redness and inflammation in treated parts of the skin. Chemotherapy is usually given in cycles, to allow your body time to recover between treatments.
It may cause nausea and other side effects in some individuals. Side effects are common, but can generally be controlled. This treatment is generally used only for metastic cancer.
Radiation Therapy :
Radiation therapy, or radiotherapy, uses a special kind
of 
high energy carried by invisible rays or particles to
kill cancer cells, or keep them from growing.
X-rays are the kind of radiation often used to kill skin cancer. The amounts are much higher than those used
in an ordinary mammogram or chest x-ray.
This therapy often is used for cancers that occur in areas difficult to treat with surgery, especially in the very elderly, who may be unable to safely undergo surgery. These include cancers on the ears, eyelids, and tip of the nose.
Radiotherapy can also be given as an adjuvan ttreatment. This means given after surgery to try to lower the risk of the cancer coming back. Treatment is painless and does not make the body radioactive. Several treatments may be needed to kill all of the cancer cells.