This cancer grows on those parts of human skin that are exposed to excessive Sun. In case of being diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, it is easy to feel worried. However, this kind of skin cancer is curable if diagnosed in the early stages.

This kind of cancer will most likely not spread from the sin of your body to other parts, but, it could move to nearby bone or tissues underneath the skin. There are several kinds of treatments that could prevent cancer and also get rid of it.

You should get alert as soon as small and shiny bumps start to show on pars of the body, mostly on the nose or other body parts like arms, legs, and trunk, etc. For those with a fair skin, there is more likelihood of acquiring basal cell carcinoma.

There is a typical pattern with basal cell carcinoma. It usually grows really slowly and often doesn’t show –up for years together even when being exposed to intense and scorching Sun for 1 hour. You could contract basal cell carcinoma at much younger age in case you are exposed to lot of Sun or are using tanning beds.

Basal cell carcinoma may look like open sores, scars, shiny bumps, pink growths, red patches, or growths having central indentation or rolled edges. In the beginning, a basal cell carcinoma appears like a small pearl like bump that looks almost like a flesh-coloured pimple or mole that refuses to go away. Sometimes, these mole-like growths could also look dark, or may be shiny red or pink patches that are light and scaly. One other common symptom to look out for is the hard, waxy skin growth. These growths are so fragile that they could bleed easily.

Causes

Ultraviolet rays (UV) from tanning bed or from the sun mainly cause this condition in you. UV rays hitting the skin, over a period of time, could damage the DNA in the skin cells. Though growing into basal cell cancer takes a lot of time, it is usually due to damage to DNA that triggers the condition.

Diagnosis

Your doctor would check your skin to see if any growths are there. Questions like:

• Was your growing up most of the time under the sun?
• Are there blistering sunburns on you?
• Do you use lotions like sunscreen?
• Did you ever use tanning beds?
• Do you experience unusual bleeding areas on your skin surface that refuse to heal?

A sample or biopsy would be taken by the physician of the skin growth by numbing the area and removing some portion of the skin. This would then be sent to lab for testing of cancer cells.

Treatment

The target is getting rid of cancer and simultaneously ensuring there is as small a scar visible as possible. To administer the best treatment, your physician would consider the place and size of the cancer, also for how long you have the cancer. They would also consider what chances of scarring are there, along with the overall health of yours. Certain treatment options may be suggested by the physicians, which are both surgical and using medications.   

Your physician would first numb the tumor and the surrounding skin and then scrape it with some spoon-shaped device. Next they would cut out the tumor plus some small surrounding area of the skin that appears normal and send it for testing in the lab. In case lab result reveal cancer cells in the area where timorous growth is there, there would be need of removing more of the skin.

Other techniques used could be cryosurgery or freezing the cancer cells using liquid nitrogen. Using electricity to scrape the tumor away is another popular method, radiation therapy is one good method, and Mohs surgery- where the tumor is removed layer by layer.