Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosed today. A skin cancer is basically an abnormal growth of the skin cells. It typically occurs in the epidermis, which is the top layer of the skin. Skin cancers are named by the type of skin cell from which they originate. Therefore, the most common skin cancers seen today are termed basal cell, squamous cell and melanoma.
What Is Melanoma?
Melanomas are by far the most dangerous type of skin cancer, resulting in more deaths than the other types. However, like most skin cancers, melanomas are often caught early, thereby preventing complications and death. In fact, learning the abcd of skin cancer can dramatically decrease the length of time between the formation of a skin cancer and its detection since it describes how an abnormal skin lesion will appear. Abcd is a simple acronym that any person can learn and apply to themself.
What Is the Abcd of Skin Cancer?
The letter “a” stands for asymmetry. Most normal skin lesions, including moles, are symmetrical. This means that if they were cut in half, each side would look exactly the same and have the same shape. However, cancerous lesions are more often asymmetrical with both halves demonstrating different appearances.
The letter “b” stands for border. The border of a normal freckle or mole is usually smooth and even rounded. However, a cancerous lesion usually has a border that appears indistinct or fuzzy. It may appear that the color is beginning to spread into nearby skin cells. The border may also appear to be jagged.
The letter “c” stands for color. Normal lesions are all one hue whether they are light or dark. Cancerous lesions may display numerous colors or many shades of the same color such as blacks and browns.
The letter “d” stands for diameter. Although this characteristic is a bit less distinct than the others, most cancerous lesions are greater than six millimeters in diameter. This is often described as being larger than an eraser on the end of a pencil. On the other hand, if any other suspicious symptoms are present, a lesion that measures less than six millimeters should be thoroughly examined by a doctor as well.
Learning to recognize the abcd of skin cancer is a great tool in early detection of the disease. This is vitally important because many skin cancers can be completely eradicated if they are caught early enough. Each individual should bring their physician’s attention to any skin lesion that is asymmetrical, has an irregular border, has varying colors or has a wider diameter than six millimeters.
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How has skin cancer affected you or someone you know and how did you handle it?
