Over the past six or seven years, I’ve had lots of skin cancers. Early on, I didn’t manage my skin cancer symptoms very well and I let the first one, a squamous cell carcinoma progress to the point where it was very serious. After three or four basil cell carcinomas were removed from my face I realized it’s a fact of life that I’m susceptible to skin cancer. When the first one was found, the dermatologist remarked that my life style had caught up with me.
Most people don’t treat skin cancer early enough, because they don’t know they have skin cancer. Some things, moles, warts and discolorations on the skin are taken as normal skin problems associated with age and are ignored.
When a person has a confirmed skin cancer, the panic starts. It’s very hard to stay calm and collected. Cancer is bad and the natural thing to do is to imagine the worst. I’ve had skin cancer frozen with cryosurgery, cut off by surgical procedures and radiation treatment. So, why did I want to write about my experiences with skin cancer? I hope that I might help someone avoid the mistakes I made, do as much research as possible and see their doctor sooner.
The first skin cancer I had showed up as a sore on my jaw that wouldn’t heal. After some time, I had it checked out and the doctor’s opinion was that “It didn’t look cancerous.” In hindsight, I should have asked for a second opinion or had it checked by a dermatologist. Skin cancer won’t go away without treatment, and I learned that if you have a sore that doesn’t heal, splotches or a mole that changes shape or color, get a second opinion.
Most of my cancers have been removed surgically. Surgery was used initially to treat the squamous, but all of the cancer wasn’t removed. Partly for cosmetic reasons, I opted for radiation treatment to cure it. The radiation took longer, but I didn’t end up with a hole in my jaw where the tissue would have been removed.
I’ve also had a lot of actinic keratoses, areas that could have become cancers. Two treatments prescribed by my dermatologist were topical treatments. The first one used a medicine called Effudex. After about ten days, my face looked like I had a severe sunburn, but I continued the treatment until I didn’t want to put up with the pain any longer. The dead skin dropped off, my face healed, my skin was tight and I looked several years younger. The second treatment was with a material called Fluoroplex. The end result was the same, but there was a lot less pain involved. Personally, I like the creams used to remove keratoses, and there are several sources of natural cancer treatments.
I’m a great believer in using topical creams to remove keratoses that might turn into cancer. There may be some natural skin cancer treatments that may work on some slow growing cancers. If you suspect that you might have a skin cancer, see your doctor, get a second opinion if you’re not satisfied, watch for changes in your skin and use sun block with the highest SPF that shields from both UVA and UVB rays. These are the most harmful forms of sunlight, and all exposed areas of skin should be protected. Keep the application consistent and repeat it several times if you’re outside for long periods of time.
