What do we mean by 'Skin Cancer'? Skin Cancer can be found on any part of the body. It is the most common cancer diagnosed in Australia. Skin Cancers are either Melanoma or Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers (NMSC). Our focus is Skin Cancer on the head and neck, especially the face, nose and lip. Information about other types of Head and Neck Cancers can be found here.
The most appropriate treatment of Skin Cancer depends on many factors. These include:
type, size and location of the cancer and whether it has spread
personal factors (e.g. age, general health and treatment history)
types of treatment available
your preferences for treatment
Most common Skin Cancers (e.g. non melanoma Skin Cancer) will be treated by a local excision only. Skin Cancers become invasive when they breakthrough the bottom layer of the skin (dermis) and invade into the deeper tissues.
Treatment of in situ Skin Cancer can be with surgery (including excision or curettage also called scooping), radiation therapy or other treatments including liquid nitrogen therapy (freezing), cautery (using heat) or topical medications (e.g. creams or ointments).
Surgery is an important treatment for many Skin Cancers. For people, where the cancer has invaded the skin, there is a chance that the cancer may invade deeper structures and spread. The different operations that can be used for Skin Cancer are:
Skin grafting, which is taking skin from another part of your body (such as your thigh) and transplanting it to cover the area where you had surgery.
Flap repair, which is taking tissue from another part of your body to rebuild the area where you have had surgery. You can have local flap or a free flap surgery.
Radiation therapy can be used to treat both melanoma and NMSC. Most people with melanoma will have surgery but some people with widespread in situ melanoma, or with metastatic lymph nodes after surgery may be referred to a radiation oncologist to consider having radiation therapy. The common type of radiation therapy for Skin Cancer is called external beam radiation therapy. This type of radiation therapy is applied from outside of the body. The machines used to deliver radiation therapy for Skin Cancer give less penetrating radiation that is because these Skin Cancers are on the skin surface. Some people will need deeper treatment with deeply penetrating x-rays called megavoltage photons. Radiation therapy can be used in the following ways:
It may be recommended if surgery is not appropriate because of the size and location of the Skin Cancer or an operation is not safe for the person involved. This therapy is more common for people with a NMSC.
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