How to Treat Bowen's Disease

Bowen's disease is a cancer derived from squamous cells. Its cause is frequently unknown, but sun damage and arsenic poisoning are known causes and the human papilloma virus has been implicated as well. Bowen's disease has considerable potential to spread with larger lesions becoming several centimeters in diameter. It rarely becomes invasive and the prognosis is favorable. The following steps will show how to treat Bowen's disease.

Instructions

• 1

  Administer a keratolytic or cryotherapy followed by topical application of 5-fluorouracil. Fluorouracil has also been applied effectively with iontophoresis.

• 2

  Use a cream with 5 percent imiquimod as an alternative topical treatment. It is applied three to seven times per week and has been used successfully to treat Bowen's disease.

• 3

  Consider radiation therapy with Grenz rays or X-rays for patients who have multiple lesions or are poor surgical candidates. Photodynamic therapy is a promising treatment for superficial carcinomas such as Bowen's disease.

• 4

  Remove small lesions of Bowen's disease with simple excision. This is the preferred treatment for lesions not on the face and fingers. Make the excision at least 4 mm outside the border of the lesion to remove all of the disease.

• 5

  Perform Mohs micrographic surgery on large or recurrent lesions, or when it is vital that tissue be spared. This technique removes skin cancers with minimal loss of healthy tissue by taking thin layers only in areas of the known tumor. Virtually all of the tissue margin is examined by frozen section. Mohs micrographic surgery has the highest cure rate for Bowen's disease.