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About a million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with skin cancer every year. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States. According to current estimates, forty to fifty percent of Americans who live to age 65 will have skin cancer at least once. Although anyone can get skin cancer, the risk is if you have fair skin that freckles easily -- often with red or blond hair and blue or light-colored eyes.
The two most common kinds of skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. (Carcinoma is cancer that begins in the cells that cover or line an organ.) Basal cell carcinoma accounts for more than ninety percent of all skin cancers in the United States. It is a slow-growing cancer that seldom spreads to other parts of the body. Squamous cell carcinoma also rarely spreads, but it does so more often than basal cell carcinoma. However, it is important that skin cancers be found and treated early because they can invade and destroy nearby tissue.
At Haberman Dermatology Institute, we use many tools to help you fight skin cancer on all fronts. A powerful combination of traditional and new, innovative therapies are provided by cancer experts who work with you to determine the appropriate combination of therapies, which may include:
Surgery is often used as a treatment for skin cancer. There are several types of surgery depending on the stage and location of cancer.
Radiation Therapy is treatment with high-energy rays (such as x-rays) to kill or shrink cancer cells. The radiation may come from outside the body (external beam radiation) or from radioactive materials placed directly in the tumor (internal or implant radiation).
Photodynamic Therapy is a two-step procedure that is done on an outpatient basis. You will be injected with a light-activated drug, which targets cancerous cells. Approximately 24-48 hours later, a laser light is directed through a scope onto tumor cells, exposing the cancerous tissue to a certain spectrum of light. The light "switches on" the drug, destroying the cancerous cells without damaging your surrounding healthy tissue.
Topical Chemotherapy is when medication is placed directly onto the skin rather than being given by mouth or injected into a vein.
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