Freezing Skin Cancer

Introduction

Skin cancer is a growing problem in the world. Over a million cases are reported every year, and that number keeps increasing. It is the most common cancer, but most cases aren't the sever type. The most common type of skin cancer is basal cell carcinoma. Of all the cases reported, it makes up for more than 90% of them. Basal cell carcinoma is caused by age, the exposure to sun and two types of radiation: ultra violent and therapeutic. The appearance of this type of cancer is a dome-shaped bump. The good news is that this type of cancer can be cured with cryosurgery, the process of freezing off the tumor. Cryosurgery is becoming the popular way of getting rid of tumors associated with basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell skin cancers. Squamous is another form of skin cancer that looks like fish scales when observed under a microscope.

What is Cryosurgery?

The prefix in Cryosurgery comes from the Greek work "Cryo", which means 'ice cold'. Cryosurgery can be traced back to 1819 when an English physician, James Arnott, began publishing papers about the benefits of using extreme cold temperatures to cure some conditions. He continued to write these papers up to 1879. The use of cryosurgery to remove tumors didn't start until about 30 years ago with carbon dioxide. Today other cryogens, such as liquid nitrogen, are used to freeze off tumors. Although liquid nitrogen is the cryogen of choice, some still favor the use of carbon dioxide. Other than skin cancers, cryosurgery is very beneficial in the dermatology field to remove many skin anomalies. It has also been used on certain types of prostate cancers.

The Process

Cryosurgery can not be used for all cases of skin cancers. Doctors will recommend that it doesn't be uses on very large tumors, or tumors that are in an area that can cause considerate damage to other organs. The success rate of cryosurgery is very high, that is why it is so favored amongst experienced dermatologists. The patient is given a local anesthesia before the intensive procedure. The cryogen has a temperature of -58 degrees Fahrenheit. It is applied to the tumor to freeze it. The cancer cells are destroyed by the extreme cold temperature and mires off. Once this cancerous skin is gone, the underlying skin is allowed to heal and normalize. Since basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell skin cancers almost never spread, using cryosurgery usually clears the body of these types of cancers.