Skin cancer

The number of people who develop skin cancer is on the increase. This seems to be due to increased UV exposure. To maintain both health and beauty of your skin we will inform you about adequate and sensible sun protection measures tailored to your skin type: get sun-smart!

We check your skin for the presence of skin cancer and their precursor lesions. Our clinical experience is supplemented with state-of-the-art digital image analysis tools. At the end of the check-up you will be informed about your individual skin cancer risk and follow up visits.

Epidermal skin cancer
Most skin cancers develop from cells in the upper most layer of our skin: the epidermis. The epidermis is constantly renewed every 4 weeks, a life-long, challenging process. The main enemy of this renewal is UV light. It interferes with the ‘software’ that coordinates this process. If errors occur, this may lead to skin cancer and its precursors.

Basal cell carcinomas, sometimes called white skin cancer, squamous-cell carcinomas and actinic keratoses arise in the epidermis. They are typically diagnosed clinically, i.e. by the naked eye and by dermatoscopic imaging and confirmed by biopsy. Sometimes the diagnostic step may avoid a biopsy and may be done using a special light, so-called photodynamic diagnosis. Fair skinned people who had or have high UVexposure, are especially prone to these types of precancerous and cancerous lesions.

Melanoma
Also called black skin cancer, and may resemble moles. This makes their diagnosis more difficult in early stages. Yet they have excellent healing chances when diagnosed and surgically removed at an early stage. Early detection of melanoma is the primary goal of skin cancer checks. If they get a chance to grow vertically and penetrate the skin for more than 1 millimetre, healing chances become less favourable.

Not all individuals have the same likelihood of developing melanoma. If parents or brothers or sisters have had melanoma, chances are increased 20-fold. Number and type of common moles also influence chances of developing a melanoma.

Methods of diagnosis
Skin cancer checks are performed by clinical investigation of your skin; digital imaging completes the clinical evaluation.