Skin Cancer Early Stages

In 2009, according to American Cancer Society (ACS), the most serious type of skin cancer, melanoma, will be responsible for approximately 68,700 new cases of skin cancer. However, more than 1 million cases of non-melanoma skin cancer are diagnosed each year in the US, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). You don't have to be one of the 11,590 individuals who die each year from the disease. Skin cancer can be cured 95 percent of the time, if detected early.

• There are more than 1 million new skin cancer cases diagnosed each year.

Types of Skin Cancer

• There are two types of non-melanoma skin cancers called basal cell and squamous cell. Basal cell is the most common in the U.S. It grows slowly and is least likely to spread to other parts of your body. However, in advanced stages, it can grow into your bones or surround tissue. Squamous cell is less common in the U.S. It grows faster and can spread to other organs. Melanoma is the most serious of all skin cancers and is on the increase according to University of California San Diego Moores Cancer Center. It grows quickly, spreads to other organs and can be fatal if not detected early.

Significance

• After a skin cancer diagnoses, your doctor will begin the staging process. This process will determine if the cancer has spread to other parts of your body or has spread within other areas of the skin. Your doctor will need to know the stage of your skin cancer to know how to treat it. First, you will have a biopsy performed. Then your doctor may examine your lymph nodes to investigate if the cancer has spread to them.

Non-melanoma Stages

• In Stage 0, or carcinoma in situ, the skin cancer that is found in the squamous or basal cell layers appears on the topmost layer of the skin. The abnormal cells can become cancerous and spread to the normal tissue. Stage I is early skin cancer that as spread deeper into the epidermis. The tumor will appear between 1 and 2 cm in diameter. It will be the same size as a pea or peanut.

Melanoma Stages

• Stage 0 melanoma is the same as with the non-melanoma skin cancer. The cells can become cancerous. In stage 1A, the tumor is no thicker than 1 mm or the size of a sharp pencil point and has no breaks in the skin. However, the stage 1B is 1 to 2 mm thick, which is the size of a new crayon point. The tumor has moved further into the skin and has ulcerations or breaks in the skin.

Treatments

• If you are diagnosed in the early skin cancer, your doctor will remove the cancer via surgery, simple excision or cryosurgery. Cryosurgery is used in non-melanoma carcinoma in situ to freeze and destroy abnormal tissue. Another example is in stage 0 to 1 melanoma. You will have surgery to remove the mole, lesion or tumor. However, if your melanoma is in stage 1, but the tumor is thicker than it will be treated like you were diagnosed with stage 2, which means you will have surgery and medicine like interferon.