Skin cancer is a disease affecting skin tissue, which develops cancerous cells.
Underlying factors leading to the development of skin cancer include exposure to sunlight and skin characteristics, particularly skin colour, as pigmentation and the more or less consistent keratin layer halt the action of ultraviolet rays in sunlight. Ultraviolet rays trigger changes in skin tissue by causing mutations in its development, altering cell DNA and having a build-up effect over a period of years (“skin has memory”).
Skin cancer incidence rates have increased significantly in recent decades and one of the main causes of this is the so-called “hole in the ozone layer”, as it is in areas with greater exposure to sunlight and lacking the protection of our atmosphere where higher rates of skin cancer have been detected.
Skin cancer types fall into two groups according to their aggressiveness:
Non-melanoma skin cancer:
- Epidermoid or squamous cell carcinoma.
- Basal cell carcinoma.
Malignant melanoma skin cancer.
Basal cell skin cancer is considered to be the most frequent malignant tumour in humans, followed in terms of frequency by epidermoid skin cancer, in a proportion of approximately 4:1.
Melanoma is the most feared skin tumour for its highly aggressive nature and its ability to spread or metastasise in its advanced stages.
