Oncology
Skin Cancer
Skin cancer is any abnormal growth that develops from skin tissue cells.
Treatment characteristics
There are many types of skin cancer but the three (3) most common are:
- Melanoma
- Basal cell carcinoma
- Squamous cell carcninoma
The symptoms depend on the type of the skin cancer:
Melanoma – with irregularly shaped mole, asymmetrical, with an unusual growth, with reddish or bluish appearance. They usually appear in different in different areas depending on the gender. They are found on legs and arms in women and on chest and head in men.
Basal cell carcinoma – with brownish or flesh-colored lesions that easily bleed.
Squamous cell carcinoma – with a scaly or crusty surface, a sore that does not heal and stains that change colour.
There are risk factors for this pathology. These include sun exposure for long hours especially without protection, fair skin, weakened immune system and gender (men are more likely to have skin cancer).
There are different types of treatment:
- Cryotherapy – by freezing the area with the use of liquid nitrogen
- Excisional Surgery – by surgically removing the lesion and/or lymph nodes ( depending on the extent)
- Radiotherapy
- Chemotherapy
- Immune system stimulation – by combining your own body’s substances with other artificially created ones.
- Drug therapy – oral and topical
- Photodynamic therapy – using light beams to destroy the cancer cells
The result varies depending on each patient, their physical condition and the tumour progression. If we are in the first two phases the probabilities of overcoming this disease are very high, most patients eradicate it.
The probabilities of being clean of cancer diminish according to the stage so there will be cases in which our treatment is focused on maintaining a quality of life as satisfactory as possible.
This will depend on the stage in which the disease has been detected. Your recovery time may range from a few weeks, two to three months or more, depending on your individual case, your doctor may specify a longer period of time.
If you came to us in the early stages, you may be able to return home after a few weeks or a month, although you will have to maintain a close follow-up with your medical team (in your country or in ours) to check your progress.
Treatment itinerary
Before treatment
- Check that you have prepared all the personal documentation, medical and travel confirmations.
- If you take medication of any kind not related to the surgery, do not forget to take with you the necessary amount for your stay in Spain, as well as the medical prescription that will allow you to travel with it without problems.
During treatment
- Once you are in Spain, you will have to make an appointment with your specialist. During this visit, the doctor will open your medical record (for which he will ask you to provide all your medical documentation), perform a physical examination and tell you if any further tests are needed to confirm the diagnosis.
- If it is not necessary and everything is confirmed, the doctor will tell you when you should come to undergo the most appropriate treatment. If the doctor has told you to stop taking any medication a few days before the intervention, such as anticoagulants, please do not forget to follow the exact instructions given by the doctor or you will not be able to be treated!
- The same goes for any fasting that the doctor indicates, if you do not comply with it - You will not be able to have the treatment either.
After treatment
- After your treatment, your medical team will want to be kept regularly informed of your progress.
- They will ask you to undergo a series of checks that will have to be carried out during the first few years at different intervals, usually every 3 or 6 months. Your doctors will arrange visits and, in some cases, you will be asked to undergo further testing to ensure that everything is under control.
- They will certainly suggest a new nutrition plan and life habits that will help you in this new phase.
- Please remember that successful recovery and a better quality of life also depends on you and on following the guidelines given by your doctors!
