Learning about the stages of skin cancer can help you to identify the level at which a cancer has grown. If you have a growth that resembles something you may think is skin cancer you should read this article. Here we will talk about the different stages of skin cancer and what to look for.
The stages of skin cancer are divided up into the main two types of skin cancer. The two types of skin cancer are entitled nonmelanoma and melanoma skin cancer. They are treated the same way in most cases. We will start with the stages of nonmelanoma skin cancer. The first stage is “stage 0″ or precancerous stage. In this level, the topmost cells of the skin are abnormal. They may convert into cancerous cells later or start to spread into healthy tissue.
The next level of the stages of skin cancer for nonmelanoma cancer is stage I. During this stage the cancer has in fact formed and there is a tumor. This tumor will be two centimeters or smaller. A centimeter is about one inch. When the cancer reaches the next level, stage II, the tumor has become larger than two centimeters. The next level is stage III and this is when the characteristics of the cancer start to take on a metastatic (spreading) type of activity. Stage III is defined by the skin cancer invading below the skin to other areas such as muscle or bone tissue. If the skin cancer has spread to the lymph nodes under the skin, this is also a characteristic of stage III skin cancer. Stage III skin cancer is restricted the region where the cancer started.
Stage IV is the last of the stages of skin cancer for nonmelanoma skin cancer. This is when the cancer metastasizes ( spreads ) to other locations in the body. This is a terrible condition to be in and survival is much less expected when the cancer is allowed to grow this far.
The other type of skin cancer is melanoma. The stages of skin cancer for melanoma are similar to nonmelanoma. Stage “0″ is where the skin is precancerous with abnormal cells developed. For stage I the cancer has formed and is not more than one millimeter thick and is without ulcerations. The tumor will be in the top level of skin. A sub level of stage I will be when the cancer does have an ulceration but it is not more than one millimeter thick and has spread to a lower layer of skin. This type of skin cancer is also in stage Ib if the size of the cancer is more than one millimeter thick but less than two millimeters thick and has no ulceration.
Stage II is the complicated level of the stages of skin cancer. It is divided up into three sub levels. The basic thing to learn about stage II is that the tumor is from one to four millimeters thick and the sub level will depend on if the tumor is ulcerated or not. For example, if the tumor is more than four millimeters thick and is in an ulcerated condition, this is level IIc. Stage III of melanoma skin cancer is a tumor that has begun to spread under the skin and into the lymph nodes. The size of the tumor can be any size to be in stage III.
Stage IV of the stages of melanoma skin cancer is the point at which the cancer has invaded other locations of the body. This is the last of the stages of skin cancer. Those whose cancer has progressed this far will not have a good prognosis or forecast for being cured.