If you have skin (as we all do), it is important that you take care of it. Though we don’t often think of it in this way, skin is the largest organ in our entire body, and skin care is hugely crucial to its continued health and ability to protect us in the ways that it needs to. After all, without skin we would be laid bare to the world, susceptible to injury and diseases of all varieties. Our skin provides us with the barrier that we need, and it takes care of us. And so in turn we should want to take care of it. From wearing sunscreen to seeing a dermatologist (a skin doctor who specializes in such care and treatment), there are many ways, both big and small, in which we can provide our skin with the care that it needs and deserves in order to stay healthy.
Going to see a skin care specialist for skin care services is particularly important in people who are susceptible to skin cancer or who have a large number of moles. You should keep track of your moles between dermatologist appointments, noting any new ones or any changes (such as in color, shape, or size) that have happened to ones that already exist. Every year, your skin care doctor or dermatologist should check all of your moles thoroughly. If you notice a concerning mole before that time, however, it is advisable to go in for mole treatment just in case. Though only around thirty percent of melanomas are found in moles, this is high enough of a percentage that preventative mole removal and biopsy is often recommended in the case of a suspicious mole.
But any changes to the texture, color, and general appearance of your skin should also be noted, as as many as eighty percent of all melanoma cases are diagnosed from an origin point of skin that does not include a mole, as skin doctors can tell you. Skin cancer is far too commonly diagnosed, as twenty percent of all people living in the United States will receive a skin cancer diagnosis by the time that they reach their seventieth birthday. In some cases, fortunate patients are able to be diagnosed and treated before the skin cancer has spread past the point of origin. In many cases, however, much broader and intensive courses of treatment must become involved, often including invasive treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. If the cancer has spread extensively, the chance of a good prognosis drops.
One such common procedure that a dermatologist may recommend is that of a Mohs procedure. During this procedure, the chunk of cancerous skin will be removed from the body as a whole and biopsied. This procedure is done with the opes of fully eradicating the cancer and has proven to have very high success rates. When it comes to the curing of skin cancer, a Mohs procedure gives a good prognosis, with as high as a ninety eight to ninety nine percent chance of a cure. A Mohs procedure is not always an option, as some skin cancer may have progressed beyond this point, but can be hugely instrumental in curing cases before they progress.
There are a number of different types of skin cancers as well. Some are more serious than others, and tend to be harder to cure. Of these skin cancers, melanoma is most likely to prove to be deadly. Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer in the United States and even beyond it, and is typically relatively responsive to treatments, depending, of course, on the stage of the cancer when it is first diagnosed and how quickly the patient is able to proceed with the recommended course of treatments. This cancer needs to be diagnosed by a dermatologist, and is seen by the average dermatologist a large number of times every year. In just one year, there are more than four million basal cell carcinoma cases diagnosed in the United States alone, let alone elsewhere in the world.