Cancer is a scary word to hear no matter what the circumstances are. After you have been diagnosed with skin cancer, you should still be aware that you have options. If detected early enough, skin cancer is usually treatable and in some cases can be removed with not a lot of damage to your skin. But on the contrary, the longer the cancerous lesion is allowed to stay on your skin, the higher the chances is for the cancer to spread to other parts of your body instead of staying centralized in one area. Skin cancer treatment is not something you should put off for another day.
What are Features of Skin Cancer?
When your dermatologist is trying to determine whether you lesion is cancerous or not, there are several determining factors that they are looking for on your lesions. They will look at the lesions size, the age of the lesion, and the depth of penetration to figure out which treatment options would be perfect for you and help you beat this cancer. Usually, skin cancer is treated the best way when the treatments involve several types of treatments to help you have a variety of options.
Excisional Surgery
Excisional surgery is an option for skin cancer treatment. The surgery involves removing the cancer from the healthy tissue that usually surrounds it. This procedure is usually performed with a local anesthesia instead of an IV. The procedure is very successful in treating all types of skin cancers, including the more dangerous ones that can spread to other parts of your body. Usually the cancer can be fully treated this way, but in the rare case that it cannot, you will be referred to a skin care specialist for other types of treatment therapy or radiation.
Curettage and Electrodesiccation
This procedure is usually performed on smaller skin cancers and even those that are still considered precancerous lesions. The procedure is completed in two parts. Step number one involves injecting a numbing medicine to the area that is going to be treated and physically scraping the tumor off of your skin. Lastly, the area will be cauterize with an electric needle to make sure any remaining cancerous cells are killed.
Topical Chemotherapy
In this day and age, with all their advances in technology, topical chemotherapy is now an option. This may be necessary to treat skin cancer carefully and effectively. This medication is usually put on the skin like an ointment or cream. This topical cream is then applied and it will dry quickly.
Cryosurgery
This type of skin cancer treatment is one that also removes cancerous and precancerous lesions. In Cryosurgery, the treatment is done with liquid nitrogen. Usually Cryosurgery and Curettage are really great alternatives to having surgery in most causes.
If you are battling skin cancer and you are looking for some of treatment options, look no further than our dermatology center. We will be glad to help you get the answers you need to any questions that you have and to help you understand exactly what is going on inside of your body. If you would like to learn more about the recovery process, we could definitely assist you in that. Contact our office today to schedule your skin cancer treatment consultation! Westover Hills Dermatology is conveniently located in San Antonio, TX.
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