In general, non-melanomas most often appear on the neck, face, ears, or any
other area that receives a lot of sun exposure. The basal cell cancers usually
begin as either a smooth, pearly-looking lump that sometimes
bleeds or itches, or a scaly, crusty, flat, red spot. It is
possible for it to appear as a firm, red lump.
Squamous cell carcinomas often show up as tender spots beneath a hard,
looking cap with a scaly appearance. In addition to the other over-exposed
areas, they are also found on the arms, the backs of hands, the lower legs, a
bald scalp, or the face.
Benign skin growths
Some skin conditions are not cancerous, but cause changes on the skin’s
surface nonetheless. These benign growths include moles, warts, and
corns. Many people have benign growths removed, not for health
purposes, but for cosmetic reasons.
There are also less common benign growths with the potential to become
malignant. The two most commonly recognized are Bowen’s disease and actinic
keratosis.
Bowen’s Disease--There are some professionals in the
medical field who consider this slow-growing, reddish-brown patch on the skin
to be precancerous. Others consider it to be the earliest stage of skin cancer,
known as carcinoma in situ (cancer that involves only the cells that it
originated in, and has not spread). Either way, it appears as a scaly or crusty
patch and resembles dermatitis or psoriasis.
Actinic Keratosis--Actinic keratosis, also known as solar
keratosis, appears as patches that are usually less than one inch
across. These raised, scaly patches on the skin can be flesh-colored, or fall
somewhere in the range of pink to red to brown. Like Bowen’s disease, they
appear mostly on areas exposed to the sun, such as the face, ears, forearms,
lips, backs of the hands, and the neck. Left untreated, 1 in 10 cases develop
into squamous cell carcinoma.
Risk Factors for Skin Cancer
Anything that increases your chance of developing a disease or health
condition is considered a risk factor. Risk factors for skin cancer include:
Exposure/overexposure to the
ultraviolet light of the sun
40 years of age or older
Bowen’s disease
Actinic keratosis
A fair skin and blue eyes
combination
Freckles
Skin cancer in the family
history
Regular exposure to sunlamps
or sunbeds
Skin that burns easily
Severe or excessive number of
sunburns in childhood
Over exposure to certain
workplace chemicals including (but not limited to) radium, coal tar,
arsenic compounds, soot, asphalt, paraffin waxes, hair dyes, and petroleum
derivatives.
Use of pharmaceutical drugs
that lower the immune system
Previous radiation treatments
for other conditions