The Different Types of Skin Cancer and Melanoma
Basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are called non-melanoma to set them apart from the more serious melanoma skin cancers.
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What are the non-melanoma cancers?
Basal cell carcinoma is the most common skin cancer. More than 90 percent of all skin cancers in the United States are basal cell carcinomas. Fortunately, basal cell carcinoma also is the least of skin cancer because it grows slowly and rarely spreads. Basal cell carcinoma spreads in less than one out of every 1,000 patients.
Squamous cell carcinoma is more serious because it does spread to vital organs inside the body. The spread of squamous cell carcinoma occurs in a few cases for every 100. Although the spread is slow or not as aggressive, the initial cancer cells tend to spread only as far as the nearest lymph nodes which filter out and trap the cancer cells. If spread has occurred, the affected lymph nodes can be removed before cancer spreads to the vital organs.
What is malignant melanoma?
Malignant melanoma is the most serious kind of skin cancer because it may spread quickly from the skin through the lymph nodes, or blood, to the internal organs.
What stage is my skin cancer?
Cancers go through distinct phases or stages of growth. The process of determining the stage of cancer is called staging. A doctor must know the stage of cancer in order to pick the most effective treatment. Advanced cancer which has spread, needs treatment much more different than localized cancer growing only in the original tumor site.
Skin cancer is staged by information obtained from various tests. Doctors usually divide skin cancer into two stages - localized and metastatic.
Localized skin cancer has not moved beyond the visible tumor. Most skin cancers are diagnosed in this stage. The biopsy is the only test needed to determine the localized stage.
Metastatic cancer has spread beyond the original site. The doctor may suspect that spread has occurred when a skin cancer is unusually large or has been growing for a long time or there are symptoms of internal problems, such as a cough or headache. The doctor will examine lymph nodes in the area for signs of spread. The doctor may order other tests, such as chest x-rays, MRI, or CT scan, to see if cancer has spread elsewhere in the body.
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At first, cancer is restricted, or localized, to one place in the body. Skin cancer diagnosed early usually is growing only in the area of the visible tumor. If left untreated, some skin cancers may reach a more advanced stage, spreading to nearby lymph nodes. In the most advanced stage, cancer has spread to other organs in the body.
