What is Bowens disease and how is it treated?
Bowens disease (named after the doctor who diagnosed it) is a localised skin growth which means that it is usually confined to one area. Other terms you may hear used in relation to it are intraepidermal carcinoma in-situ (cancer that is confined to the outer layer of the skin) or pre-invasive squamous cell skin cancer. Although they can be a nuisance for the vast majority of people with it they cause very little harm but for a few they can develop into a type of skin cancer called invasive squamous cell cancer. The risk of this happening is hard to asses but studies suggest 3 to 5 out of every hundred of untreated Bowens disease will develop into invasive squamous cell cancer. There are many effective treatments to prevent this happening. It can appear anywhere on the skin but is commonest on the head, the neck and the skin of the lower leg. It usually appears as a red scaly patch which may itch or bleed.
