Not all skin cancers are pigmented. Basal cell carcinomas which are very common often present with a small red or pink spot that won’t heal and that gradually increases in size. It is surprising that so many people leave these lesions undiagnosed for long periods. They are straight forward to diagnose and straight forward to treat if diagnosed at an early stage. Unfortunately when diagnosed late they require more extensive surgery especially if located on the nose or near the eye.
Squamous cell carcinoma is another common skin cancer that is straight forward to excise if diagnosed at an early stage but too often patients let these lesions get out of control and put themselves through unnecessary hardship as larger lesions need more extensive surgery and radiotherapy.

Another common skin cancer is malignant melanoma. This lesion has a very high cure rate if diagnosed at an early stage. Unfortunately too many people neglect these lesions or bury their heads in the sand which allows the melanoma to become more invasive and spread to lymph nodes and other organs with devastating consequences. Having said that the treatment of more advanced melanomas has improved greatly in recent years with advances in immunotherapy. But why let it get to that stage when it is usually cured by relatively minor skin surgery alone if detected early.

Another thing to point in Ireland is that some melanomas are not pigmented ie brown or black and can be red or pink or white in colour. We have seen many melanomas that don’t look like typical text book cases. So if you have a new or changing skin lesion never be afraid to get it checked out. You are never wasting the doctor’s time. Indeed an early diagnosis will save you having to get invasive treatments and immunotherapy which can have significant side effects and also early diagnosis saves the health service alot of money as advanced immunotherapy treatments are very expensive.