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Author:
Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

There are three main types of skin cancers. Melanoma is a skin cancer that starts in moles and can spread rapidly through your body and kill you. Moles that have irregular borders and multiple colors should be removed to be checked for melanoma. Moles that have smooth circular borders and are of one color are almost never melanoma cancers.

The second type of skin cancer is called squamous cell cancer. These can occasionally spread through the body and be fatal.

The third and most common type, basal cell skin cancer, rarely spreads through the body and can be cured just by taking out 100 percent of the lesion. They are called cancers because they keep on growing through everything around them until they are completely removed. Basal cell skin cancers fall apart and feel like marshmallows when they are scraped. All a doctor has to do is to inject an anaesthetic into the lesion, scrape the basal cell cancer until he feels the hard resistance of normal skin. He then burns an area of normal skin around the lesion to guarantee the removal of the entire cancer.

You can suspect that you have a basal cell skin cancer when you develop a red scaly area on the surface of a light-exposed area of skin. That is probably an actinic keratosis that can often be removed just by applying a special cream called imiquimod. However, if you leave the red area in place, it can go deeper and became a skin cancer. You can suspect that the actinic keratosis has gone deeper when the surface feels rough like sandpaper. If you let it grow further, it can become an elevated area with a fine pearly border.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

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| Article Keywords: Skin Cancer

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Skin Cancer... Protect Your Skin From The Aging Effects of the Sun Are you as careful to protect your skin from sun damage as you should be? Do you wear sunscreen every time you go outside for prolonged periods? Or do you think you're safe for some other reason? Most people are aware of the dangers of skin cancer resulting from overexposure to the sun. While people who rarely burn are less likely to contract skin cancer than people who burn easily, everyone is at risk. Even with no family history. And our collective knowledge about skin cancer risks is constantly changing. For example, dermatologists used to condone minimal use of high-pressure tanning beds (which use UVA rays almost exclusively, with very little of the UVB rays) for people who tan easily and rarely burn. The tan from these beds was thought to protect your skin from natural sunlight. Now dermatologists are finding that UVA rays cause deeper tissue forms of skin cancer, which are more difficult to detect and treat. Even if you never contract skin cancer, overexposure to sunlight also accounts for a surprising number of the signs of aging we think of as normal. Tanning produces deep skin wrinkles, makes the skin texture leathery, and can cause discoloration such as "age spots". Avoiding sun and tanning bed exposure will help keep your skin tone even, your wrinkles fine and your skin texture soft. Broad-spectrum sunscreens provide excellent protection from natural sunlight exposure. Even if you're not going to be out in the sun for long, it's a good idea to put some on exposed skin while dressing in the morning, particularly in the summer time. If you're concerned about potentially dangerous chemicals that have been used in sunscreen, such as PABA, you should be aware there are sunscreen products available now that don't include harmful chemicals. In fact, many are...