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Skin cancer is the most common type of human cancers which occurs due to the uncontrollable growth of cells to form a big mass called Tumor. Tumor can be benign or malignant. Malignant tumor contains features of cancerous cells which can spread to other parts of the body in advance stage. Generally, tumors of the skin are referred as the Lesions. It has been seen that some common forms of skin cancer are diagnosed in more than one million populations in the USA each year.

Three types of skin cancer have been found such as Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC), Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) and Melanoma. BCC and SCC are the most common forms of skin cancer disease which have affected a large number of populations across the world.

Symptoms of skin melanoma disease

• Blood vessels can be visible within the tumor.
• A central depression with bleeding and crusting develop frequently  
• A BCC creates sore that does not heal.
• A squamous cell carcinoma may create scaly, red and thickened patch on the skin when exposed to sunlight.

Treatments for skin cancer disease have been described as follows:

Surgery

Surgery is the most common type of Skin Cancer Treatment which is used for almost all kinds of melanomas. The thin parts of cancerous areas are completely cured by a minor surgery called as ‘simple excision’. In this method, the tumor is cut out along with normal skins at the edges. The normal and healthy skins are referred as the margin. The recommended margins vary according to the thickness of the tumor. For thicker Tumor, larger margins are used.

Chemotherapy

This is a medication procedure in which doses of drugs are injected to the body through the vein or taken by mouth as a pill. These drugs travel through the blood stream and go to all parts of the body. Drugs affect the cancerous parts which have spread beyond the skin and reached to the lymph nodes and other organs. This is also called as ‘systemic therapy’ as drugs travel all over of the body.

Radiotherapy

Radiation therapy is also an effective method for Skin Cancer Treatment in which high-energy rays are used to kill the melanoma cells. It is carried out by External beam radiation and internal beam radiation therapy

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is all about stimulating the immune system of the patients to recognize and destroy the cancerous cells in an effective way. Many types of immunotherapy are being used to treat patients with advanced form of skin melanoma.

Summary

Some of the effective treatments for skin cancer have been described above in a well versed way. These treatments are administered in world-class cancer care hospitals.