What Is Skin Cancer?

In a nutshell, skin cancer is a very general term that is used to describe any malignant tumors on the skin itself.

Why is this general? Well, if you think about it, the skin isn’t just made up of one type of cell. Instead, it is a mix of many different types of cells, all with specific tasks and functions, working together to form what we know as ‘the skin’.

So, malignant cells could be of many different types.

Normally though, skin cancer is found in the epidermis, which is basically the top-most layer of the skin itself. Within the epidermis, there are three main types of cells, namely:

1. Squamous cells – the flat, scaly cells of the epidermis
2. Basal cells – their rounded counterparts, and
3. Melanocytes – the ‘color’ cells of the epidermis.

No surprise then that the three most common types of skin cancer are:

1. Squamous Cell Carcinoma
2. Basal Cell Carcinoma
3. Melanoma

Each type of cancer is linked to the corresponding cells that we just mentioned. Simple enough, right?

Now, you may not know this, but skin cancer is really very common. At least, it is the most common type of diagnosed cancer. Yes, that means that it is even more common than things like breast cancer or lung cancer.

So why aren’t people talking about it as much?

Well, that’s mostly because it isn’t nearly as fatal as those kinds of ‘internal’ cancers. Or rather, fewer people end up actually dying from it.

For the most part this is due to a number of reasons, but the fact that it is actually out there on the skin, and thus, easy to spot, definitely plays a role. When caught early, the chances of successfully dealing with cancer of any kind are greatly increased, and skin cancer is no different.

But as things stand, skin cancer cases are growing at a very alarming rate throughout the world. While there is a lot of speculation as to why this is so, there isn’t much by the way of general consensus.

As you’ll soon see, each of the common types of skin cancer vary in terms of how threatening they are, and how they manifest themselves. Each is unique, in its own way, but still, there is a lot of connection between them, especially in terms of the causes organs. That being said, when caught early before it gets the chance to spread, treatment is definitely possible.

But if left to its own devices, it will develop into a large mass and cause a lot of havoc.