Skin and subcutaneous tissues neoplasm

A Skin Neoplasm is an unusual growth of cells on your skin. Many times, the neoplasm is understood as synonymous of cancer. More commonly these are termed as tumours. This is the condition in which the cells continue to divide and grow when they should not.

Basically, there are Two Types of Neoplasms, namely benign and malignant. Benign neoplasms are non-cancerous and don’t spread to the nearby tissues around it but these can damage tissues and organs around them. On the other hand, Malignant Neoplasms can spread to other tissues around and also travel throughout the body producing new tumours in other organs (metastasis).

There are a wide range of benign and malignant lesions of the integumentary system, but the most common ones are: lipoma, basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and melanoma.

Lipoma is a benign tumor of the sub fat tissue. It is a small lump of fat that starts growing in the soft tissue of the body mainly under the skin.

Symptoms and diagnosis of Lipoma:

Usually, appear as small soft lumps,
Normally don’t pain but can pain if blood vessels run through them
Generally found in upper body, arms, or thighs
Ultrasound could be performed to understand the vascularization and the connection with the tissues around it (for example with the muscular fascia)
Sometimes it is necessary a biopsy of the tissue

Most of the lipomas are treated removing by excision which is a small surgical procedure in local anaesthesia. In case of small lipoma, steroids or liposuction might be the treatment of choice to draw out the tumour out of the body.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and melanoma are three major types of skin cancers. All these are the most common lesions involving the skin and the subcutaneous tissue.

Basal Cell Carcinoma is likely to affect the skin which is chronically exposed in the sun. It does not spread to other organs but can affect other tissue under the skin (muscle and bone). It is the least risky type of skin cancer.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma is the second most common type of cancer. It is usually caused by exposure to the UV rays of the sun or tanning beds. It can spread to the tissues, bones, and also nearby lymph nodes making it hard to treat. Old age people, males, fair-skinned people with blonde and red hair or an inherited gene alteration are more likely to get this type of cancer.

Symptoms and diagnosis:

Dome-shaped skin growth with blood vessels in it,
Shiny pink or red patches or might be brown or black in colour
Growth of waxy, hard skin
Fragile and bleed easily
A biopsy may be required before choosing the treatment

The treatment depends on the size and the location of the skin cancer, proliferation type of cells along with the time for which it has been there. Routine management involves a surgical excision under local anaesthesia. Alternative treatments include the use of topical chemotherapy cream, cryotherapy with nitrogen, radiotherapy or removing the cancer cells layer by layer (Mohs Surgery).

Melanoma is a type of cancer that develops from the pigment-containing cells known as melanocytes. In more than 95% of the cases, it develops on the skin but it may appear in the mouth, intestine, eyes or bed nail, and so on. It is linked with ultraviolet light (UV) exposure. A biopsy should be performed for any lesion suspected for melanoma.

The treatment is different according to the stage of the disease. It includes surgical excision. Cancer, spreading to a lymph-node, requires surgical treatment affected the lymphatic system. Recently, the technique of sentinel lymph node biopsy has been developed to reduce the complications of lymph node surgery. High-risk melanomas also may require chemo and immunotherapy or radiotherapy.