WHAT ARE PRE-CANCERS AND SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA?
Actinic keratoses (pre-cancers) usually present as small reddish patches that may have a slight brownish tinge. They may be slightly scaly and occasionally bleed. One usually notices it as a small patch that will scale or is rough and looks slightly different than the surrounding skin. One key in differentiating this from a benign area is that these areas will still be there one or two months later. Any persistently different area of skin should be checked by a dermatologist. These keratoses will lead to a somewhat more difficult skin cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, if not treated. They usually grow slowly and may take several years before turning into a squamous cell carcinoma; however, patients should not delay in treatment, as some may develop into squamous cell carcinoma rather rapidly. Although squamous cell carcinoma of the sun-exposed skin does not frequently spread to other organs (metastasize), this is possible (approximately 5-10% reported in different studies) and, therefor
