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Prevention And More Effective Treatment Combine To Reduce The Threat Posed By Skin Cancer

Prevention And More Effective Treatment Combine To Reduce The Threat Posed By Skin Cancer

Some few incidences of cancer boil down to little more than genetic factors and bad luck. In such cases, there is often little to be said in hindsight about how a person might have avoided the disease, with nature simply having taken its course. For most forms of cancer, on the other hand, there are ways of minimizing the chances that a person will eventually have to confront a diagnosis. Coupled with today's often-effective means of treating such diseases, this makes cancer something that will hopefully take fewer lives as time goes on.



For some of the most common forms of cancer, the best known means of prevention are also relatively simple to make use of, as well. Skin cancer of various kinds, for example, strikes people of all backgrounds and situations, but employing some basic protective measures can help. Always making sure to use sunscreen and protective clothing when out in the sun for any length of time, for instance, can greatly reduce the likelihood that skin cancer will ever develop.



Even for those who do contract the disease, the prospects for recovery are typically much greater today than in the past. In some cases, this will be because a relatively recent breakthrough allows for the treatment of a type of tumor that was formerly difficult to deal with. In many others, though, it will be the use of a well-established option like mohs surgery that turns out to make the difference.



Mohs Surgery, in fact, was first developed over eighty years ago, and it has advanced, while retaining its basic form, quite a bit since. In general, mohs involves the combined use of specific surgical removal techniques and instruments like microscopes in order to inspect and assess the samples of skin that are removed.



By employing mohs micrographic surgery for melanoma, physicians can be much more sure than used to be the norm of removing all of the cancerous cells that might afflict a person. Instead of tackling a visible tumor and then hoping to improve the odds by removing a patch of adjacent skin, a surgeon can be much surer of taking out all of the dangerous cells from the start.



As a result, patients who undergo this style of surgery typically enjoy excellent prognoses, along with relatively low rates of long-term remission. While doing everything possible to prevent skin cancer from happening in the first place will always be advisable, there is therefore often plenty of hope for those who are diagnosed with the disease, as well.