Be Treatment Savvy

Skin cancer can be treated with surgery, medications, radiation, and phototherapy (light therapy). Here's a quick overview of each option:

Surgery: There are many different types of surgery for skin cancer.

• One of the types of surgery is excision, where a surgical knife is used to cut out the cancer cells and a small area around them (to make sure that all the cancer cells are removed).
• Curettage and electrodessication is a procedure that uses a curette (a flat, sharp-edged scraping tool) to scrape off the cancer cells and then treats the area underneath with electrical pulses (from an electric needle) to eliminate the remaining cancer cells.
• Cryosurgery is another technique used where liquid nitrogen or liquid carbon dioxide is used to freeze and destroy cancer cells.
• Laser surgery uses a laser light to dry out and vaporize the cancer cells.
• Mohs surgery is another method used for skin cancer where the cancerous tissue is removed from the skin in thin layers. This technique is mainly used for skin cancer on the face and neck, but can be used for other types of tumours such as those that have poorly defined borders, are recurrent, or have a high risk of recurrence, and for people with compromised immune systems.

Medications: Two different types of medications are used for skin cancer. Topical medications are applied to the skin, and systemic medications are given into the bloodstream (by mouth or by injection) and travel through the body. Topical medications are used to treat actinic keratosis (a non-cancerous skin lesion that is a warning sign of skin cancer) and superficial basal cell carcinoma (one type of skin cancer). Systemic medications are given to treat some cases of melanoma (a type of skin cancer) and to treat basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas (types of skin cancer) when other treatment methods are not appropriate.

Radiation: This skin cancer treatment method is used when surgery cannot be performed or is not desired. It works by exposing the affected areas to high-energy radiation (such as X-ray beams), which kills the cancer cells by damaging their DNA. Radiation therapy can also be used together with surgery.

Photodynamic therapy: This type of therapy uses a medication in combination with a laser light. The medication makes the cancer cells more sensitive to the laser light, which kills the cancer cells.

All material copyright MediResource Inc. 1996 – 2024. Terms and conditions of use. The contents herein are for informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Source: www.medbroadcast.com/healthfeature/gethealthfeature/Be-Treatment-Savvy

There's a great deal of information available on skin cancer. Some of it is of a high quality. Some isn't. How can you find the information you're looking for and make sure that it's credible?

Your best strategy for finding skin cancer information depends on the type of skin cancer information you're looking for. If you've just been diagnosed or are looking for general information on skin cancer, then there are articles on this site that will give you an overview of skin cancer causes, types, treatment and prevention. You can also visit other general information sites, such as:

• Canadian Cancer Society (for information and support for all types of cancer)
• Canadian Dermatology Association (for tips on sun safety and skin cancer prevention)

If you're familiar with the condition and are looking for more specific information, you will need to narrow your search. When it comes to the Internet, you can search within the general sites listed above using the "search" function on each website. You can also use a search engine (such as Google or Bing) to find specific skin-cancer-related information. The more specific the information you're looking for, the more specific your search terms (the words you enter to find information) must be. Choosing more than one search term (e.g., "skin cancer" and "laser surgery", instead of just "skin cancer") can help narrow your search (e.g., to include only articles on laser surgery for skin cancer). Some search engines offer help features where you can learn how to conduct your search for best results (this depends on the search engine).

Another way to find specific information about skin cancer is to conduct a Medline search. This can be done at a medical library or on the Internet using PubMed (a medical search database from the National Library of Medicine). The key to getting good results with Medline is finding the right search terms and narrowing your search. Read general articles on skin cancer to become familiar with the medical terms for the information you are looking for. Then use these medical terms for your search. If your search returns a large number of articles, you can limit the results to a particular year, language, or publication type. This should narrow down your search even further. If you're having trouble, ask a librarian for help, or use the "help" and "tutorial" features of PubMed.

If you're looking for an information source that's not online or computer-based, the Canadian Cancer Society is a great place to start. They will provide information, support, and advocacy for people living with cancer and their families. They can also provide information on cancer research and ongoing clinical trials.

How can you tell if an information source is credible? Here are a few things to consider:

• Who created the content? If the information is coming from a medical association, a hospital, or a university, or if it is written and reviewed by health professionals, it is more likely to contain credible, high quality information. Look for a medical editorial or advisory board – this is a good sign that health professionals have reviewed the information, which means it's more likely to be credible.
• Who sponsors the content? Does the website or pamphlet look like it's trying to sell a product? Information that's designed to sell a product may be biased toward that product. However, many product manufacturers provide balanced, credible information, so it's important to consider other factors that may affect the credibility of the information.
• When was the content last updated? The more recent the update, the more confident you can be that the information is current.
• Beware websites or pamphlets that claim to be the only source of information or to be providing information that has been "suppressed" by the mainstream medical world. These information sources are less likely to be credible.

All material copyright MediResource Inc. 1996 – 2024. Terms and conditions of use. The contents herein are for informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Source: www.medbroadcast.com/healthfeature/gethealthfeature/Be-Treatment-Savvy

Your doctor is a crucial part of your treatment team and an excellent source of information. If you want to take an active role in your treatment, the best way to start is by asking plenty of questions. If you're not sure what to ask, here are a few suggestions. You can print this page off to bring to your visit, and add to it any other questions you may have.

Top 10 questions to ask your doctor:

1. What type of skin cancer do I have?
2. What treatment options are available?
3. What are the benefits and risks of the different options?
4. Which option would you recommend and why?
5. How effective is this option?
6. What are the side effects of this option? What should I do about them?
7. What do I need to do to prepare for treatment, and how will it affect my daily life (both during and after treatment)?
8. Are there any new options coming soon? Are there any clinical studies in which I could consider participating?
9. What is my prognosis? Will you be able to remove all of the cancer, and what are the chances that my cancer could come back?
10. What can I do to reduce my risk of skin cancer in the future?

All material copyright MediResource Inc. 1996 – 2024. Terms and conditions of use. The contents herein are for informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Source: www.medbroadcast.com/healthfeature/gethealthfeature/Be-Treatment-Savvy

If you are taking medications for skin cancer, your pharmacist can be a valuable resource. And you don't even need to book an appointment – just visit your neighbourhood pharmacy. You can print this page off to bring with you, and add to it any other questions you may have.

Top 10 questions to ask your pharmacist: