May 2003

Current Issue
Past Issues
About Us

Public Affairs
Baylor Home

Public Affairs
Baylor College
of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza,
Room 176B
Houston, TX 77030
Telephone:
  (713) 798-4712
Fax
   (713) 798-3692
Email: pa@bcm.tmc.edu

Comments, Suggestions?

Types of skin cancer

Basal cell carcinoma.
The most common form of skin cancer, it affects at least 1 million people in the United States each year. It is easily curable, but cure is most likely when it is caught early. Treatment is surgical, although chemical treatments are being studied. There is a lot of research going on into treatment and people are always looking for non-surgical ways to treat this problem. Basal cell carcinomas often take the form of a pale, pearly wax-like nodule or a red, scaly patch. Only in rare instances or when it is ignored does it spread or metastasize.

Squamous cell carcinoma.
This cancer affects 200,000 to 250,000 people per year. It is more dangerous than basal cell carcinoma but less than melanoma. It can take the form of a warty nodule or a red scaly patch. Surgery is the most common cure, but research into other treatments is ongoing.

Melanoma.
Melanoma is the most dangerous and least common form of skin cancer. An estimated 50,000 new cases occur in the United States each year, and 7,000 to 8,000 people die from this disease. The incidence of melanoma is increasing. In 1935, an estimated 1 in 1,5000 people got melanoma. Today, the statistic is more like 1 in 75. Surgery is the only treatment available at this time. Caught early, it is almost always curable. However, the longer the disease exists in the body, the more likely it is that it will spread. When it has spread to distant sites, cure rate is only about 14 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.

© Copyright 2002 - 2003 Baylor College of Medicine. All Rights Reserved.