Archive for November, 2009

Pictures of Skin Cancer

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

It is very difficult to recognize skin cancer. Most of the time it is so well hidden that you tend to over look it till it has reached a very advanced stage. Skin cancer can look like many things. It can look like a sore, spot, mole, lesion or any other type of skin abnormality.

The actual look of the skin cancer depends on the type of skin cancer that has infected you. Depending on whether it is basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma or melanoma, the symptoms and marks vary. There are a lot of skin cancer pictures available on the World Wide Web and if you for some reason have a mark that matches any of them you should visit a doctor immediately.

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Important Facts About Lung Cancer

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

Listed below you’ll find some very interesting facts about lung cancer:

  1. The primary cause of lung cancer is smoking. 87% of the people that are diagnosed with lung cancer are either smokers or have previously been smokers.
  2. Approximately 219,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer in the U.S. every year out of which around 103,000 are women and 116,000 are men. Out of these people, more than 160,000 find it to be fatal.
  3. Lung cancer can be caused, apart from smoking, by exposure to radon, radiation, second hand smoke, asbestos, arsenic, etc.
  4. Only 16% of the patients are diagnosed before the disease has time to spread to the other parts of the body.
  5. The race which experiences the highest incidence of lung cancer and the highest death rate are the African Americans.
  6. Around 84% of the people that are diagnosed with lung cancer die and within five years of getting diagnosed with it.

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Skin Cancer Symptoms – Early signs & Symptoms

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

Skin cancer symptoms early signs & symptoms will vary depending on which type of skin cancer it is. The following are the most noticeable:

  1. Raised, waxy-looking bump mostly on face or neck but not restricted to that area.
  2. Face, neck, arms or hands covered with hard red bumps.
  3. Scaly, persistent patch of skin that doesn’t get soothed by lotion.
  4. A mole that bleeds or changes in size.
  5. An irregular shaped mole.

It can occur on just about any part of the body. It is most often spotted in the areas that are exposed to the sun.  It may also occur in the mouth or eyelid area and in unusual places like between the toes, underneath the nails or around the genitals.

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Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Non-Melanoma skin cancer is basically called keratinocyte carcinoma or keratinocyte cancer as when it is viewed under the microscope their cells appear to have some of the same features as keratinocytes which are the most abundant type of cells found in normal skin. The most common types of this cancer is basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

There are also some other cancers that are considered non-melanoma skin cancers. These are:

  1. Merkel cell carcinoma
  2. Kaposi sarcoma
  3. Cutaneous (skin) lymphoma
  4. Skin adnexal tumors
  5. Various types of sarcomas

These types of skin cancers, together  account for less than 1% of all non-melanoma skin cancers.

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Background Information on Lung Cancer

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

This article will provide some very valuable background information on lung cancer.

The leading cause of deaths in the United States is lung cancer irrespective of the gender of the person. It causes more death every year than colon, prostate, breast and lung cancer combined.

Even though the above description doesn’t look all that good, most lung cancer deaths can be prevented. This statement is true because smoking is the main cause for nearly 90% of lung cancer cases. The risk of getting diagnosed with lung cancer increases with the time and the number of cigarettes smoked. Even if a person quits smoking for many years, the chances of getting lung cancer get greatly reduced. To stay protected from other causes of lung cancer like asbestos, secondhand smoke and radon also keeps the risk of getting lung cancer low.

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