Skin cancer (melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma) is the most common and very dangerous type of cancer which is rapidly progressing. The disease affects up to five million people a year worldwide. At the same time, oncologists in Israeli clinics manage to achieve a stable remission due to innovative methods for the diagnosis and complex therapy of skin cancer.
Risk factors
Excessive sun exposure, excessive tanning on beaches and in tanning salons, ignoring sunscreen to protect the skin, especially among fair-haired people with very light skin – these are the main risk factors for developing tumors on the skin.
- Heredity.
- Multiple moles, birthmarks and freckles.
- Serious sunburn, which for a long time could not make itself felt.
- Age – over 50 years old. However, skin cancer is rapidly ‘getting younger’ and affect more young people and even children.
Israeli oncologists recommend getting a routine checkup with a dermatologist at least once a year, especially if there is at least one of the listed risk factors. In the early stages, melanoma and other skin tumors are cured in almost 100% of cases.
Skin Cancer Symptoms
Melanoma and other oncological diseases of the skin often develop from ordinary moles, which suddenly begin to grow, acquire a jagged or other irregular shape, change color to bluish, pink, gray, white or brown-red. Sometimes the mole starts to bleed. Skin cancer can also present with other symptoms:
- the appearance of new pigmented areas of unhealthy color;
- bleeding and / or scaly lesions;
- non-healing ulcers and wounds;
- painful areas of the skin.
All this is a reason to turn to a dermatologist immediately.
Diagnostics
- Physical examination and dermatoscopy. Using a dermatoscope that magnifies the examined area of the skin by 10-200 times, the dermatologist accurately determines the type of neoplasm. If malignancy is suspected, the patient is referred for a deeper histological examination.
- Biopsy and histological examination of tissues. Scraping or fine-needle aspiration allows to examine the obtained biomaterial in the laboratory and make a diagnosis with 100% accuracy.
- Genetic cancer test for malignancy of neoplasms. Such testing allows to prevent the development of a cancerous tumor from benign skin neoplasm in more than a third of patients.
If the spread of metastases is suspected, computer, magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography (CT, MRI, PET) and ultrasound are performed.
Skin Cancer Treatment in Israel
Surgical removal of a malignant tumor is the main method of treating cancerous neoplasms on the skin. To achieve a stable effect, oncologists in Israeli clinics, together with dermatologists, surgeons and radiologists, select complex therapy, which may include other methods of treating skin cancer.
- Gentle chemotherapy with modern drugs with minimal negative impact on the body. It is prescribed mainly when metastases are detected.
- Radiation therapy with a high-precision linear accelerator without injuring healthy tissues.
- Immunotherapy – stimulating patient’s own immune system to fight cancer.
The effectiveness of treatment of this most common and very dangerous cancer depends on its stage. At the first stage, the efficiency is very high, and at the fourth
stage, the prognosis is quite sad. Treatment of skin cancer can not be delayed, so patients from all over the world come to Israel to fully recover from this type of cancer and return to a full life without serious aesthetic problems on the face and body after surgery and a course of therapy.