SPOT THE DIFFERENCE with Dr Franz Strydom & the Skinspots team

Living with skin cancer can be an exhausting affair. The older one gets, the more cancers tend to appear and the more scars one accumulates.

When it comes to treatment, options can be confusing too. The one thing that's certain is skin cancer does not just happen in one spot. Most skin cancers are caused by ultraviolet radiation exposure. This means the damage is spread over a larger area than a single spot of skin cancer. In medical terms this is called a field disease.

Surgical removal required

This is the reason why any single treatment will often not be sufficient to treat the current and prevent future cancers. A specific mass of cancer would need to be cut out and surgically removed with adequate margins.

Similarly, the whole area of sun exposure/damage should be treated. This will decrease the risk of other cancers appearing. The occurrence of further skin cancers can be reduced by more than 50 per cent in the next year with a carefully-selected topical treatment.

Treat it right

Skin cancer can be seen as a chronic disease. It needs to be treated definitively, with all appropriate methods. Each person's battle with this disease needs to involve the patient deciding what is best for themselves, guided by medical staff giving the best and most up-to-date advice possible.

This is firmly entrenched in our philosophy and treatment delivered at Skinspots skin cancer clinic.