Basal-cell skin cancers constitute 80 percent of all skin cancers, not including the most serious skin cancer – melanoma.
The cause is believed to be intense, intermittent exposures to sun during childhood and young adulthood — the kind of exposures that bring on sunburns. Close to 80 percent of basal-cell cancers occur on skin subject to sun exposure — the head, face, ears, neck, arms and legs. A few basal-cells arise on skin that rarely sees the light of day, so sunlight is not the sole cause.
It begins as a pearly nodule, about the size of a small pebble, whose surface is often covered by a cobweb of tiny blood vessels. The nodule forms an ulcer that might bleed or scab. It often heals, but the sore returns. Any recurrent skin sore should bring a person to the doctor.
Basal-cell cancers are just about always curable. They don’t threaten life. If not treated, however, they can bore deeply into tissues and cause local destruction.
Mohs surgery is the procedure where the doctor removes thin slices of the nodule, examines the slices with a microscope, and keeps removing more slices until he or she reaches a level when no more cancer is seen. It has an excellent cure record. It doesn’t lay people up at all.
Other ways of treating basal-cell cancer depend on its size and its location. These cancers can be scraped off with a special instrument, dried with electric current, frozen or treated daily for six weeks with Aldara cream.