Skin Cancer Signs And Symptoms

Skin cancer signs and symptoms - Early discovery helps to keep the consequences limited. How do you recognize the symptoms? Skin cancer can happen to anyone, but some people are more at risk than others. People who often lie in the sun without protection, for example, or with a large number of (deviant) moles. And people with fair skin are at greater risk than people with dark skin.

Carcinoma
Skin cancer almost always occurs in the epidermis. The two forms of skin cancer that arise from the cells of the epidermis itself, the basal cell carcinoma and the squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common. Together they make up about 90 percent of the skin tumors.

Melanoma
The third form of skin cancer is melanoma. This is skin cancer that develops through pigment cells in the skin. Birthmarks are an accumulation of these pigment cells. A melanoma grows quickly and is malignant. Not only moles can grow into melanoma but it can occur anywhere on the skin.

Premalignant abnormality
There are skin disorders that are not yet cancer, but that can be. This precursor of cancer is called a premalignant disorder.

The most common indication of skin cancer is a change on the skin, such as a rough spot that does not go away, a wound that does not heal or a change in the color or size of an already existing skin abnormality, such as a birthmark. Actinic keratosis is the most common.



Actinic keratosis
Actinic keratosis mainly occurs in older people, but can also occur in younger people, under the influence of too much ultraviolet radiation. It is a horny spot that looks a bit like a wart or an eczema spot. The skin feels a bit rough. When you scratch it, a small wound can occur.

Shiny bump
However, not all precursors of skin cancer express themselves as an actinic keratosis. Sometimes a waxy, pale, smooth, shiny bump appears suddenly. In other cases, there is a firm red lump that can sometimes bleed or form a crust. It can also happen that a mole suddenly bleeds or changes color or shape.

Birthmarks
In some people with many pigmentation spots, the risk of skin cancer is already greater; they then have a large number of birth defects, whether or not abnormal, all over the body. We call this dysplastic naevi. Dysplastic naevi differ not only in size but also in shape and color.

What to do?
A premalignant condition can turn into a squamous cell carcinoma. That is why it is important to regularly examine your body for strange spots, bumps and changing moles. If you do not trust it, always go to your doctor.

The GP will assess the change in the skin and possibly remove the spot. You can also be referred to a dermatologist or a (plastic) surgeon. If this specialist suspects that there is skin cancer, a piece of the tissue is removed for examination. Usually, this happens under local anesthesia. If the suspicion of skin cancer is very great, the specialist can also remove the spot immediately. A pathologist then examines the tissue obtained under the microscope. This is the only way to definitively determine whether it concerns cancer and what form of skin cancer it concerns.

If skin cancer is detected on time, it is easy to treat. In severe forms of skin cancer, such as melanoma, early recognition and treatment can even be lifesaving. The duration and form of such a treatment depend on the stage of the skin cancer and the type of cancer.

Skin cancer symptoms

• a birthmark becomes thicker, changes color or gets a whimsical shape
• itching to a birthmark
• a crust or sore on a birthmark
• bleeding birthmarks
• pale pink skin abnormalities with a white, rough, flaky spot in the middle
• smooth, glassy nodules that grow slowly, possibly with sores and scabs around them

*Image source : Wikimedia Commons

References :

1. National Cancer Institute
2. gezondheidsnet
3. American Cancer Society