If you have been diagnosed with skin cancer you might well be uncertain about the treatment you will be getting because, even if you have already been over your treatment choices with your doctor, you may still be confused by all the technical and medical jargon that was used. You may not have taken in the information because of the shock following the diagnosis.

Here therefore is a brief description of some of the treatments that are commonly used to treat skin cancer.

The type of treatment you will receive will depend upon various different factors including things like your age and whether any cancer has spread to other parts of your body.

Your treatment might include surgery in which the surgeon might decide to remove the cancerous region itself together with some of the surrounding skin. Just how much normal skin will be removed will depend on the particular type of cancer found and how deep it is. Typically an area of approximately one to two centimeters of skin from the surrounding area is removed.

As well as conventional surgery, some skin cancers can be treated by freezing using liquid nitrogen or treated with drugs like Imiquimod which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the use on superficial basal cell carcinoma.

A wider ranging form of surgery may be necessary where a sentinel lymph node is found to contain cancer cells following a biopsy of any suspect area. This form of surgery removes lymph nodes close to the cancer including affected skin and is frequently followed by radiotherapy.

A recent development in the treatment of skin cancer is what is referred to as immunotherapy cancer vaccination although research into this particular form of treatment is still being undertaken and it is not yet widely available. You may be given chemotherapy if your cancer has spread to neighboring tissue.

There is no definitive form of prevention for skin cancer but there are a variety of things which you can do to minimize your risk of developing the disease and the most important yet usually ignored is to minimize the skin’s exposure to the sun.

Everyone, regardless of the type or color of skin you have should make use of a sunscreen which has a protection factor of at least 15. It is also a good idea to wear protective clothing and remain out of the sun as much as possible, especially between 11 o’clock in the morning and 3 o’clock in the afternoon when the sun’s rays are at their strongest. It is always advisable not to make use of sun beds and sunlamps as these also give off harmful rays.

Lastly, keep a check on your skin and pay especial attention to any changes in moles and lesions. If you are conscious of a change then you should visit your doctor as quickly as you can so that treatment can be given