What Are Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers and Where Do They Develop?
What Are Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers and Where Do They Develop? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.
What is non-melanoma skin cancer, and what are the different types? Dr. Soo Park defines this group of skin cancers and explains where they are typically found on the body.
Dr. Soo Park is a Medical Oncologist at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health. Learn more about Dr. Park.
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Transcript:
Katherine:
So, Dr. Park, non-melanoma skin cancer is a group of cancers. Would you define it for us?
Dr. Park:
Yeah, so, non-melanoma skin cancers is just basically a broad blanket term for any skin cancer that is not a melanoma. And so, that’s things like basal cell skin cancer, squamous cell skin cancer, Merkel cell skin cancer. So, anything that’s not considered a melanoma. A melanoma is another type of skin cancer, but it develops from a different type of skin cell.
Katherine:
Okay, that’s good to know. So, what are the most common types of non-melanoma skin cancer? I think you’ve just mentioned that, but maybe you could mention them again, and maybe define each one.
Dr. Park:
Yeah, so, there are lots of different types of non-melanoma skin cancers, but the two most prevalent ones are basal cell skin cancer and squamous cell skin cancer, and they actually both come from the same cell of origin in the skin. but there are actually two different types of skin cancers because ultimately that one cell, develops into another cell.
And so, for basal cell skin cancer, the cell that it comes from is a basal cell, and that’s why it’s called basal cell skin cancer. And that is very different than squamous cell skin cancer. So, as the name says, squamous cell skin cancer actually comes from a squamous cell, and these are both cells that are in your skin, and both of these cancers are mainly driven by the sun exposure.
But even though they’re both non-melanoma skin cancers and they’re the most common, with basal cell being the number one most common skin cancer actually in the world, I think a lot of people don’t recognize that, because we don’t capture the occurrences of basal cell skin cancer very well, because it’s so common. But those are the two main types of skin cancers that I think a lot of treatments are focused on right now.
Katherine:
And are these cells – can they develop into cancer anywhere on the body, on the skin of the body?
Dr. Park:
Yeah, so, anywhere that you have any type of cutaneous skin, these cells reside, and typically they happen in areas where the skin is exposed to the sun. So, for example, they often happen on the head and neck, because we just get lots of sun exposure there.
