Skin cancer is extremely common, especially here in sunny Southern California. To detect skin cancer in its earliest stage, Dr. De Silva of De Silva Medical, in Palmdale, California, offers expert skin cancer screening and skin biopsy services to patients throughout the Antelope Valley.
Skin cancer is the the most prevalent form of cancer in this country. It will affect 1 in 5 Americans over the course of their lifetime - that’s more than the combined cases of breast, prostate, lung and colon cancers. An annual skin cancer screening is the best way to detect skin cancer at its early most treatable stage. A screening is simple and painless. It involves the doctor making a visual inspection of your skin. If any new or unusual spots or moles are found, they will be excised and sent to a lab for a biopsy to examine whether cancer cells are present.
There are three main methods of skin biopsies, each quick, relatively painless and performed with a local anesthetic.
The three approaches are:
No. In fact, most moles don’t need to be removed or biopsied. Only those that appear potentially cancerous by Dr. De Silva require removal. Signs that a mole may be cancerous are: