Skin Cancer & Melanoma
To serve you better, please set your location for information on services available in your area.
Skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed type of cancer in the United States. You should have your skin checked - head to toe - by a dermatologist yearly.
What are the different types of skin cancer?
There are three types of skin cancer. The two most common types of skin cancer can be treated by your dermatologist when caught early:
- Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC)
- Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC)
The third and most dangerous type of skin cancer is melanoma. Melanoma accounts for about 2% of skin cancer diagnoses. While melanoma is uncommon, it is an extremely aggressive form of skin cancer that can metastasize (spread rapidly) to other organs.
What to look for during a skin cancer self-examination:
Between yearly screenings with your dermatologist, it is recommended to check for suspicious moles, freckles, or other growths on the skin. When performing a self-examination, you should look for:
- Noticeable changes in the skin
- Irregularly shaped, dark brownish spots on the skin, sometimes with black areas
- Moles that change color, size, texture and/or that bleeds
- Firm, shiny dome-shaped bumps on the skin
- Lesions with irregular borders and red, white, blue, gray or blue-black spots
- Dark lesions beneath the toenails or fingernails, or on the palms, tips of fingers or other parts of the body
If you notice a questionable spot, or something that doesn't look right, call your doctor to have it examined sooner instead of later.
Get expert advice from our blog:
Skin cancer awareness especially key throughout summer months
When in doubt, check it out! Stay vigilant and protect your body's largest organ -- your skin!
Physician assistant offers sun safety tips after personal experience
Kierstyn Block has cared for many patients with skin cancer, but now she has a new perspective
What are 6 tips to protect yourself from skin cancer?
Sun is fun, but SSM Health dermatologist's expertise keeps you safe
How is skin cancer treated?
There are a variety of treatment options available for skin cancer. Your doctor will go over the options and come up with a treatment plan that works best for you. Available treatment options can include:
- Cryosurgery uses extreme cold, produced by liquid nitrogen, to treat external tumors.
- Curettage and electrodessication is a surgical procedure to scrape and burn certain cancers off the skin.
- Medicated creams
- Mohs surgery is a surgical technique that removes thin layers of cancer-containing skin until only cancer-free tissue is left. Learn more about the Mohs procedure.
- Photodynamic therapy uses a photosensitizer drug and a particular type of light to destroy cancer cells.
- Radiation therapy using external beam therapy and brachytherapy.
- Surgery
- Surgery
- Radiation
- Chemotherapy
- Targeted therapy
- Immunotherapy
- Removal of lymph nodes
What is the Mohs procedure?
Mohs micrographic surgery involves removing skin cancer one layer at a time and examining these layers under a microscope immediately after they are removed.
- This allows for a close examination of each layer of skin to detect cancer cells.
- It also allows a minimal amount of tissue to be removed while ensuring complete removal of all the cancer cells in the area of the wound being treated.
What are the steps to the Mohs procedure?
The Mohs procedure is a two-step process – one to remove the skin cancer and the other to heal the wound. It can be a lengthy procedure and treatment may take place over multiple days. You may also be required to make more than one doctor visit at different locations during your treatment.
- The affected area is injected with a local anesthetic (numbing agent).
- A layer of tissue is removed and inspected under a microscope.
- The dermatologist will repeat the removal of tissue and the inspection of it multiple times, if needed, until no more cancer cells are detected in the area being treated.
- This process may take course over multiple hours. Plan to spend most of your morning in in your physician's office.
The size and shape of the wound depends upon the extent of the skin cancer. Though this cannot be predicted before surgery, it is typically several millimeters wider than the visible skin cancer.
In some areas of the face, small wounds may look best if allowed to heal on their own. Most defects, however, require at least a few small stitches. Larger wounds may need skin flaps or grafts. Both techniques involve moving healthy skin into the surgical wound. Unusually large or complicated tumors may, however, require consultation with another sub-specialist.