Skin Cancer - common or not?

Who said that only the Caucasian are prone to skin cancer?
Do you know that Filipinos as well are all at risk to skin cancer. There are said to be three (3) types of skin cancer but the commonest of all is what you called Basal Cell Carcinoma. And you do not have to be caucasian to acquire this kind of disease.
In this article, I would share and focus on this type of cancer which personally I am aware of. No, I do not have the disease but one member of my family does. The Basal Cell Carcinoma is the most common skin cancer, it is rarely fatal but it can do damages to the surrounding skin and to the bones (which is likely common). This type of cancer usually develop to the skin mostly expose in the sun, usually the head, neck, arms and legs. Of course the most common cause of this cancer is the Ultra Violet (UV) ray which comes from the sun but as well as does that comes from the flourescent lamp although not as much as the ray from the sun can do.
This type of cancer starts up as a flat, brown-colored patch (could be scaly or not). It is usually difficult to distinguish from other sores or lesion because it does not manifest as one as soon as they develop. Sometimes for a long time that could be months or even years that it will just stay the same and no growth can be noticed. There are times that it grows in size but very minimal. For some, it can grow as big like half the size of a golf ball. To be able to diagnose this, one really has to undergo a skin biopsy.
Signs and symptoms could be bleeding, itchiness, pain but depending on the patient itself. It can very much affect the person if the lesion develops in his/her face.
There are three options for treatment of this type of skin cancer:
1. Surgical removal of the lesion
2. MOH's microsurgery
3. Imiquimod (aldara) cream
For the first option, depending on the size of the lesion and where the lesion is located but it can be done with local or general anesthesia. If you already have identified one while the lesion is small, this is the best option to take. The second option is not always readily available and it might be a little costly since not all dermatologist do this type of microsurgery. The last option is to apply imiquimod cream usually 5 times a week for 6 weeks with two day rest in between. The cream will cost you 350 a sachet and this sachet is good for one use only but I have visited some website that says it can be used for two days at least. The sachet is very small. You have to wash the area where you will apply this as well the hands that will apply the cream to the area. There can be redness, swelling (not so much), itchiness or pain.
As for my dear lola's case, we choose option three. Her lesion develop in her forehead years back never realizing it will be cancer. It manifested first as a small brown patch then later got bigger (probably 1inch by 1 inch). Fortunately it presents itself as a flat lesion. We got worried when one time upon washing her face, we found some blood on the lesion. We have it biopsied and confirmed it as Basal Skin Cancer. We are now on our third week of applying imiquimod cream and the lesion is responding well. Though it has been said that there are reactions while applying the medicine, for my lola's case, only redness, a little itchiness but no pain whatsoever.
This is just a reminder for all of us that we should never neglect our health and we should always do routine consultation.