Skin Cancer – General Characteristics

Skin cancers are malignant growths on the skin. They mostly arise from the upper layer of the skin – epidermis. Skin cancers may develop anywhere on the skin, including scalp, lips, or under-nail skin.

Skin cancers are most common after 50 years of age, but they may occur at any time.

Any chronic skin growth or discoloration that increases in size with time is suspicious for skin cancer.

Skin Cancer Causes and Risk Factors

Common Types of Skin Cancer

There are three common types of skin cancer:

• Basal cell carcinoma
• Squamous cell carcinoma
• Melanoma

continue reading Types of Skin Cancer – Pictures and Treatment

Merkel cell carcinoma

WASHINGTON – People know little about the deadliest form of skin cancer as it is a little-studied type.After his death, Martin Whatley’s classic rock ‘n’ roll guitar proved his last weapon against it.

Whatley’s stricken widow put up Whatley’s perfect 1964 Fender Stratocaster for auction on eBay, donating half the income for Merkel cell carcinoma research and the rest to pay his medical bills.She knew scientists didn’t have sufficient funding to study a killer so uncommon that few doctors identify it and know little how to treat it.

She coiled donating $15,000 last year to the University of Washington — not where her husband was treated, but where Merkel cell authority Dr.Paul Nghiem is making efforts to gather samples of patients’ tumors to classify the genes that fuel the cancer.Merkel cell carcinoma provides a miserable sight of the upsetting intersection of research dollars and the suffering wrought by uncommon diseases.

continue reading Martin Whatley’s guitar proved his last weapon in a long battle against Skin Cancer(A Rare disease that needs research and proper attention)

Prolonged exposure to the ‘Ultra-Violet (UV) Radiations’ could be a major cause for developing skin cancer despite the health advantages of vitamin D. Health experts at the ‘American Academy of Dermatology (AAD)’ accept that vitamin D is essential for optimal health of a person but the risks coupled with the UV-source is far more severe and it requires a cautious approach.

Health experts and dermatologists are of the view that appropriate amount of vitamin D can easily be obtained from natural sources like vitamin D enriched foodstuffs, fortified foods, vitamin-rich beverages, and varieties of multi-vitamin supplements. Any deliberate attempt to get exposed to the ultra-violet radiations would be harmful instead.

The exposure to the ultra-violet radiations could be natural as well as artificial. Sun is the natural source of ultra-violet radiations and various types of man made devices including tanning devices are among the artificial sources of ultra-violet radiations. Both these sources provide good amount of vitamin D to the human body but they are the safer ones, according to the ‘American Academy of Dermatology (AAD)’.

continue reading Be Sun Smart to Avoid Risk of Skin Cancer