What Basal Cell Skin Cancer Is And How To Treat It

There are 3 kinds of skin cancer; basal cell, squamous cell and melanoma. Of those 3 types, basal cell is regarded as the most prevalent kind of skin cancer. In the US it's the leader in skin cancer cases where about 1 million fresh occurrences will be documented each year.

Basal cells happen to be the lowest layer within the epidermis it's here that basal cells can become malignant (cancerous). Basal cell skin cancer rarely spreads to other parts of the body and usually only ends up damaging the skin causing scars and disfigurement and hardly ever terminal. It's only when the basal cell cancer invades the lymphatic system or perhaps bloodstream that it has the chance to spread.  Again, this is highly rare.

The risk factors pertaining to basal skin cancer are:

1. An excessive amount of persistent exposure to UV rays (sunlight) across several years.
2. People with light or fair skin..
3. 50+ years old.
4. Years of sun exposure without sunblock.
5. Working outdoors full-tme for a number of years.
6. Sun Tanning either outdoors or in a tanning bed.

There are various treatment options used for getting rid of basal cell skin cancer:

1. Curettage in which a scalpel is utilized for scraping cancerous tissue.  This is best for dealing with superficial Basal Cell.
2. Topical chemotherapy.
3. Cryosurgery can freeze basal cell skin cancer with ultra cold agents like liquid nitro.
4. Surgery (extraction) must be used for removing cancer that has reached the lower tissues.
5. Mohs is a microscopic assisted surgery used to eliminate basal cell skin cancer using precision tissue removal.  This procedure is up to 99.8 % effective.
6. Laser treatments can be used to kill cancerous basal cells while leaving surrounding tissues intact.