Skin Cancer: The Stealth Killer

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Skin Cancer: The Stealth Killer
Cancer has been an active concern in our society for the past couple decades, since we truly discovered the nature of cancer and the potency it brings along with it. However, it was not until the mid-20th century that scientists were beginning to truly understand the origin of cancer. Scientists dating back all the way to the Renaissance, when they first began performing autopsies to learn more about the human body and form, noticed abnormalities but it never clicked that it was something much worse than it seemed. Research has continued since then, and it has continued to thrive even to this day. When James Watson and Francis Crick discovered DNA and it’s chemical structure in 1962, it opened up doors that even they could not expect. With the understanding of DNA and how it affected the way we look at life, came the beginning of the understanding of mutated DNA (which is a cause of the growth of cancerous cells). In this past century, researching scientists discovered that cancer is linked with the DNA that resides in a cell’s nucleus. By ways of damage to the cells via chemicals or radiation, or even introduction of a new DNA, the cancerous cells begin to form and duplicate. We are learning more and more about cancer and how to fight it, but we still have much more to learn.
Up until the early 1960s, the people of that generation grew up believe that exposure to the sun was healthy and could be used as potential treatments for ailments like acne, for example. The doctors of the early 20th century even promoted the use of the sun’s ultraviolet rays (UV rays) as a treatment for certain strains of tuberculosis. Little did they know the long run consequences of prolonged exposure to the now-labeled ...

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...til the area is clear of any sign of the cancer cells. Another method is cryotherapy: the use of liquid nitrogen to freeze the lesion and/or tumor. However, the use of cryotherapy has a rate of recurrence of about two years. The key to curing squamous cell carcinoma is early detection before any metastasis.
Conclusion
Skin cancer has been overlooked for the past few decades because the medical community has been focusing more on internal cancers. But with in exponential rise in recorded cases of skin cancer, it is grabbing attention now. Skin cancer is a serious problem and society is brushing it off so people might sport a nice tan. Even though skin cancer is not the type cancer that people see everyday or have family members develop it as often as say, breast cancer or prostate cancer, that does not make it any less of an important item to keep a look out for.

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