Contents:
- Medical Video: Basal and Squamous Cell Skin Cancers: Treatment including Mohs Surgery Video - Brigham and Women’s
- Various factors cause squamous cell carcinoma
- 1. Geographical
- 2. Gender and age
- How can SSC be formed?
- How do you treat squamous cell carcinoma?
- Is this cancer dangerous?
- How do you prevent squamous cell carcinoma?
Medical Video: Basal and Squamous Cell Skin Cancers: Treatment including Mohs Surgery Video - Brigham and Women’s
Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the second largest skin cancer in the world. This case of skin cancer is the second most common case after other cancer cases, namely, malignant melanoma and basal cell carcinoma.
The current SSC in the world continues to grow. In a study in Korea from 1999 to 2014, it was found that the increase in cancer cases was quite rapid, namely with annual growth reaching 3.3 percent in men and 6.8 percent in women.
However, squamous cell carcinoma occurs twice as much in men as in women. This cancer arises because of exposure to radiation from light ultraviolet (UV). This ray is produced naturally by the sun. Therefore, patients generally are people who are exposed to continuous sun exposure throughout the day, followed by people who live in areas with high sun exposure. Most patients are people who work in plantations, agriculture, at sea, or who have a high risk of exposure to UV light.
Various factors cause squamous cell carcinoma
This skin malignancy occurs because of various factors that exist, related to geographical problems, age, and gender.
1. Geographical
People living in the equator have a high risk of developing this disease. The equatorial region has greater sun exposure than non-equatorial regions. Therefore, high sun exposure also means high UV rays. As explained above, UV is a risk factor for this skin cancer.
2. Gender and age
This skin cancer often occurs in men. The amount can be two to three times more than the number of women who have similar skin cancer. This could be because there are more men working in plantations, agriculture, or other open places that are vulnerable to direct sunlight exposure.
While the average age diagnosed with skin cancer is those who are around 70 years old. However, that does not mean young people cannot be diagnosed with SSC.
How can SSC be formed?
SCC occurs because there is a change or transformation of normal epidermal keratinocytes, becoming malignant (malignant) keratinocytes. Just like other cancers, this cancer is also finally formed because the body cannot control changes in skin cells that turn malignant.
This cancer picture is in the form of an uneven lump, then the wound that does not heal and repetitively continues, is slightly reddish, and when touched it feels rough.
The location of the appearance of the tumor can vary, making sure you pay attention to the area such as the head area which consists of the face, then the neck, back of the hand, and the lower leg in most women. These areas are usually most often exposed to sunlight.
How do you treat squamous cell carcinoma?
This cancer is very easy to know. Therefore, the handling is mostly done in the early stages (early stage) The following are the treatment options:
- Operation. Actions can vary from excision to curettage.
- Radiotherapy. Radiotherapy is usually performed on patients who have large cancers. In addition, radiotherapy is carried out in locations that are difficult to reach through surgery. Radiotherapy is also used as an additional treatment after surgery.
- Cryotherapy. This treatment is done in cases of early-stage skin cancer. Not recommended for cases with large tumors, have spread to other tissues, or if the tumor is in the tissues of the nose, ears, eyelids, scalp, and lower limbs.
For further stages (advanced stage), the doctor may recommend the following treatment.
- Dissection of lymph vessels (lymph gland). Lifting regional lymph nodes is very important if the cancer is too large. At the same time to assess whether there has been spread to the lymph nodes.
- Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is only done when the spread of cancer is far enough to other organs. Chemotherapy is usually combined with surgery or radiotherapy.
Is this cancer dangerous?
SSC is actually not fatal, but can cause various other diseases if not treated immediately. However, at an advanced stage, the life expectancy is 5 years (5-year survival rate) very low, which is 25-45 percent. The severity of this cancer is very dependent on the location of the cancer, the diameter of the cancer itself, the depth of attachment of the cancer, and whether this cancer spreads far to other organs of the body.
In other cases, the risk of recurrence is quite high. All returned to the size of the tumor removed. If the tumor is a bad lesion, then regrowth can reach 25 percent, while for well-differentiated lesions the growth rate ranges from 10-23 percent.
How do you prevent squamous cell carcinoma?
Cancer prevention is not difficult, here's how:
- Wear sunscreen on the entire body that is not covered by clothes.
- Use long clothes that can cover the entire skin to avoid direct sunlight, especially if you are going to be outdoors all day.
- Avoid using the machine tanning or skin blackening machine because it can increase the risk of SSC by 2.5 times people who don't use this machine.
- Look around your body for symptoms as described earlier.
