Skin Cancers on the Face & Body seem to be steadily increasing in frequency. This is not only in the Caucasian races (where melanin does not...
Skin Cancers on the Face & Body seem to be steadily increasing in frequency. This is not only in the Caucasian races (where melanin does not protect the skin from the ultra-violet sun rays), but there is a steady increase in skin malignancy even in pigmented races like Asian Indians and the Hispanic population. Every skin mole, every skin lesion, every skin mass, should be viewed with suspicion and considered as cancer, unless proven otherwise. Therefore, every skin lesion, even if it appears benign and like a harmless skin cyst, should have an excisional biopsy performed and be subjected to pathological examination, to diagnose the same better. The eyelid skin is susceptible to multiple skin tumors like the basal cell carcinoma (also knows as the rodent ulcer), the squamous cell cancer (starting from the actinic keratosis), the sebaceous gland carcinoma and the Merkel Cell Cancer. In addition, malignant melanomas can also appear in the eyelid skin. Sometimes, these eyelid cancers can appear as harmless cysts, skin warts & skin moles. But, later, they continue to increase in size and may even cause a skin ulcer (like basal cell cancer rodent ulcer) or cause bleeding. The basal cell cancer is locally destructive and usually does not cause any threat to life, but the sebaceous cell carcinoma can metastatize to distant organs like the liver and the lung and even cause death. Skin prevention by using sun screen & avoiding tanning salons can protect against skin cancer. Early biopsy aids diagnosis. Removal of skin cancer can be performed by Mohs micrographic surgery or by frozen section diagnosis with cancer free margin clearance. Mohs surgery is considered the best skin cancer treatment in the world. Reconstruction of the skin defect post the skin cancer removal, is treated with skin grafting or a combination of plastic surgery reconstruction flaps like the Tenzel's semicircular flap, the mustarde's cheek rotation flap, the Cutler Beard flap, Hughes flap and... Less
