Houston Medical Spa

Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is a malignant growth on the skin that is due to a variety of causes. Despite the numerous causes, it is frequently caused by excessive exposure to the sun. The sun’s UVA rays are particularly harmful to a person’s skin. Not only do they hurt the collagen, but they also cause skin cancer.

Because skin cancer occurs on the top layer of the skin, the epidermis, it is frequently seen and caught before it goes too far. Unlike pancreatic, lung, and brain cancer, not many people who are diagnosed with skin cancer will die from it. The exception to this rule is melanoma.

Skin cancers are the fastest growing type of cancer in the United States. Each year, more than 1 million Americans alone will be diagnosed with skin cancer in some form. This can be a mere cancerous growth or full blown melanoma.

There are a variety of types of skin cancer. The most deadly is melanoma. This one type of skin cancer accounts for the majority of deaths relating to the growths. The majority, however, of cancerous growths are not going to kill people.

Overexposure to the sun’s rays is the main way that people contract skin cancer. Chronic non-healing wounds, particularly burns, called Marjolin’s ulcers can easily develop into squamous cell carcinomand. The one thing that cannot be controlled is a genetic predisposition to the disease. Having “Congenital Melanocytic Nevi Syndrome” (CMNS) is a particular factor to a predisposition. This syndrome is characterized by the presence of moles of varying size that appear at or within 6 months of birth. Moles more than ¾” in size are at a high risk of becoming cancerous.

If you would like more information on preventing skin cancer and treating sun damaged skin, please contact the skin experts of the Houston TX medical spa Dermagenix at 713-662-3376.