They can help you learn what is known or not known about the method, which can help you make an informed decision. People with cancer need support and information, no matter what stage of illness they may be in.
Knowing all of your options and finding the resources you need will help you make informed decisions about your care. Whether you are thinking about treatment, getting treatment, or not being treated at all, you can still get supportive care to help with pain or other symptoms.
Communicating with your cancer care team is important so you understand your diagnosis, what treatment is recommended, and ways to maintain or improve your quality of life. Different types of programs and support services may be helpful, and can be an important part of your care. These might include nursing or social work services, financial aid, nutritional advice, rehab, or spiritual help.
The American Cancer Society also has programs and services — including rides to treatment, lodging, and more — to help you get through treatment. Call our National Cancer Information Center at and speak with one of our trained specialists.
For some people, when treatments have been tried and are no longer controlling the cancer, it could be time to weigh the benefits and risks of continuing to try new treatments. Whether or not you continue treatment, there are still things you can do to help maintain or improve your quality of life. Some people, especially if the cancer is advanced, might not want to be treated at all. Remember that even if you choose not to treat the cancer, you can still get supportive care to help with pain or other symptoms.
The treatment information given here is not official policy of the American Cancer Society and is not intended as medical advice to replace the expertise and judgment of your cancer care team. It is intended to help you and your family make informed decisions, together with your doctor.
Surgery Most skin cancers are treated with surgery , especially basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, which are typically removed by a dermatologist in as part of an outpatient procedure. More aggressive cancers, such as melanoma, may require more extensive surgeries to remove tumors. Topical treatments These nonsurgical forms of therapy include photodynamic therapy, topical chemotherapy and immune response modifiers. They are typically used to treat early-stage basal or squamous cell carcinomas or noncancerous lesions.
Chemotherapy Chemotherapy may be an option for patients with advanced skin cancer, such as Merkel cell carcinoma that has spread elsewhere in the body. These anticancer drugs are designed to stop or slow the growth of rapidly dividing tumor cells.
Radiation therapy Radiation treatments may be recommended after surgery, to kill remaining cancer cells in the area where lymph nodes had been removed. This treatment may also be used for recurrent skin cancer to relieve symptoms or to reduce the spread of the disease metastasis.
Targeted therapy Targeted therapy drugs are used to treat melanoma and some non-melanoma skin cancers, such as rare cases of advanced basal cell carcinoma. Immunotherapy Checkpoint inhibitors and cytokines are two types of immunotherapy drugs that may be used to treat some cases of Merkel cell carcinoma and melanoma. The drugs are designed to trigger the immune system to identify and attack cancer cells.
Many basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas require minimally invasive treatments that come with few side effects, but more advanced stages of the disease may require a more aggressive treatment approach. In those cases, treatments like surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy may cause side effects, including pain, nausea, neuropathy and hair loss, that affect your quality of life.
Our supportive care clinicians work with each patient to manage the side effects of the disease and its treatment. Supportive care services that may help skin cancer patients include:. Pain management is a branch of medicine focused on reducing pain and improving quality of life through an integrative approach to care. Everyone was so warm, and made us feel safe and at peace. There is simply a wonderful atmosphere of togetherness at the hospital, and I knew it was where I wanted to go for treatment.
The PDQ database contains summaries of the latest published information on cancer prevention, detection, genetics, treatment, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine. Most summaries come in two versions. The health professional versions have detailed information written in technical language. The patient versions are written in easy-to-understand, nontechnical language.
Both versions have cancer information that is accurate and up to date and most versions are also available in Spanish. The PDQ summaries are based on an independent review of the medical literature. This PDQ cancer information summary has current information about the treatment of skin cancer. It is meant to inform and help patients, families, and caregivers.
It does not give formal guidelines or recommendations for making decisions about health care. Editorial Boards write the PDQ cancer information summaries and keep them up to date. These Boards are made up of experts in cancer treatment and other specialties related to cancer.
The summaries are reviewed regularly and changes are made when there is new information. The date on each summary "Updated" is the date of the most recent change. The information in this patient summary was taken from the health professional version, which is reviewed regularly and updated as needed, by the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board. A clinical trial is a study to answer a scientific question, such as whether one treatment is better than another. Trials are based on past studies and what has been learned in the laboratory.
Each trial answers certain scientific questions in order to find new and better ways to help cancer patients. During treatment clinical trials, information is collected about the effects of a new treatment and how well it works.
If a clinical trial shows that a new treatment is better than one currently being used, the new treatment may become "standard. Clinical trials can be found online at NCI's website. PDQ is a registered trademark.
The content of PDQ documents can be used freely as text. It cannot be identified as an NCI PDQ cancer information summary unless the whole summary is shown and it is updated regularly. If you want to use an image from a PDQ summary and you are not using the whole summary, you must get permission from the owner.
It cannot be given by the National Cancer Institute. Information about using the images in this summary, along with many other images related to cancer can be found in Visuals Online.
Visuals Online is a collection of more than 3, scientific images. The information in these summaries should not be used to make decisions about insurance reimbursement.
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