This patient presented earlier in the week with a non-healing red patch of skin on his upper chest that had persisted for several months. He thought this was a patch of eczema and had tried steroid cream but it had not improved. This is actually a basal cell carcinoma ( the most common form of skin cancer) and was easily treated. Notice the marked photodamage (sun damage) in the surrounding skin which is the biggest risk factor for the development of skin cancers.
In fact the most common form of skin cancers are Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Whilst these tend not to be a risk to life, they can cause local destruction of tissues if left to fester. Sometimes they can be pigmented (particularly in darker skin types) but are most often pink, and can be raised bumps or flat, sometimes with scale. Whilst the majority of Melanomas are pigmented, they are more rare but can be deadly. Note that most melanomas occur ‘de novo’ (as a new skin lesion) but can occasionally arise from a pre-existing mole, with a slightly higher risk in congenital moles.
