Skin cancer represents the most commonly diagnosed malignancy, surpassing lung, breast, colorectal and prostate cancer. Tumors develop primarily on areas of sun-exposed skin, including the scalp, face, lips, ears, neck, chest, arms and hands, and on the legs in women. Contrary to popular conception, skin cancer affects people of all skin tones, including those with darker complexions. Most skin cancers appear after age 50, but the sun’s damaging effects begin at an early age, therefore protection should start in childhood in order to prevent skin cancer later in life.

Types of Skin Cancer

The main types of skin tumours are:

1. Melanomas are skin cancers that form in melanocytes (skin cells that make pigment). Even though it is rare, malignant melanoma is responsible for 75 % of all skin cancer related death cases.

2. Basal Cell carcinomas are skin cancers that form in basal cells (small, round cells in the base of the outer layer of skin).

3. Squamous Cell carcinomas are skin cancers that form in squamous cells (flat cells that form the surface of the skin).

Rarer types of skin tumors are:

1. Neuroendocrine carcinomas which form in neuroendocrine cells (cells that release hormones in response to signals from the nervous system.) carcinoma of the skin.

2. Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans.

3. Merkel cell carcinoma.

4. Kaposi’s sarcoma.

Risk Factors

Risk factors for non melanoma and melanoma skin cancers include: unprotected and or excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, fair complexion, occupational exposures to; coal tar, pitch, creosote, arsenic compounds, radium, family history, multiple or atypical moles, and severe sunburns as a child. Anyone with a family history of skin cancer also has an increased risk of developing skin cancer.

Signs of Skin Cancer

Signs of melanoma may include: A large brownish spot with darker speckles located anywhere on your body, a simple mole located anywhere on your body that changes in color, size or feel or that bleeds, a small lesion with an irregular border and red, white, blue or blue-black spots on your trunk or limbs, shiny, firm, dome-shaped bumps located anywhere on your body, dark lesions on your palms, soles, fingertips and toes, or on mucous membranes lining your mouth, nose, vagina and anus.

Signs of basal cell carcinoma can vary depending on the type and may include skin changes such as a: Firm, pearly bump with tiny blood vessels in a spider like appearance (telangiectasias). Signs of squamous cell carcinoma include any: persistent, firm, red bump on sun-exposed skin.

Treatment

Depending on the type of skin cancer, dermatologic surgical treatments include: surgical excision; electrodessication and curettage which involves alternately scraping or burning the tumor in combination with low levels of electricity, cryosurgery and laser surgery. Other dermatologic treatments include radiation therapy and photodynamic therapy (a chemical is applied to the skin prior to exposure to a light source). Mohs micrographic surgery is preferred for large basal cell carcinomas, those that recur after previous treatment, or lesions affecting parts of the body where experience shows that recurrence is common after treatment by other methods.

Skin cancer can be deadly, but nearly all skin cancer can be treated if it is detected and diagnosed early, however skin cancer can recur, so it is important that you examine your skin regularly for any changes and see your doctor for a check-up every six to 12 months.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death among men and women today. It is a disease that afflicts the elderly though adults are also prone to developing it. Over the years, the number of people suffering from lung cancer has increased which can be attributed to the changing lifestyle of the populace.

The most common cause of the development of lung cancer is directly related to cigarette smoking. Studies show that the risk of developing lung cancer increases with the number of cigarettes smoked over time. Pipe and cigar smoking also causes lung cancer but the risk is not the same as with cigarette smoking.

Cigarettes are primarily to be blamed for lung cancer because tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds with a majority of these chemicals known to be cancer-causing. The two primary cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco smoke are called nitrosamine and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Once a person quits smoking however, the risk of developing lung cancer decreases.

Non-smokers can also develop lung cancer if they are exposed to second-hand smoke from smokers. About 3,000 deaths every year are caused by passive smoking. Another cause of lung cancer is the susceptibility of one to developing it. Genetics play an important factor to determine if one is at risk of cancer.

The presence of lung diseases and having a prior history of lung cancer are other reasons why an individual will have a slightly increased risk of developing the cancer. Aside from this, environmental factors such as air pollution are major contributors of lung cancer.

Since the disease is so prevalent nowadays, various treatment methods have been developed to combat it. These treatments include surgery and radiation therapy. But there is a recent development that involving a natural way of treating lung cancer and that is through the consumption of green tea.

A laboratory experiment has been done that tested green tea extracts to human lung cancer cells in a controlled and artificial environment. The cancer cells were placed in test tubes and were exposed to decaffeinated green tea extract. The cells were marinated in the extract for a maximum of three days. The result of this experiment shows that the green tea extract has altered a certain protein in the cancer cells making it stick together and move less. Scientists working on the experiment were not able to tell exactly what in the green tea extract worked to achieve the mentioned result.

And while the study is still not conclusive as to the consumption of green tea to be an effective treatment against lung cancer, it serves as the first step of developing drugs which will simulate the effects of exposing green tea extracts to the cancer cells. Through this breakthrough experiment, there is still hope for a lung cancer cure.

Nevertheless, one will not lose anything in believing that a certain natural remedy works for him. Besides, green tea is one herb that is very rich in antioxidants vital to the well-being of a person and known to combat other diseases as well.

The labels on the cigarettes give you your first clue. Smoking isn’t safe. When people first started smoking cigarettes many years ago, they didn’t realize what kinds of dangers came with lighting up on a regular basis. In the beginning, it was just a way of socializing, of looking cool. People who were addicted to cigarettes from years of smoking before they found out what harmful effects they could cause understandably have had a lot of problems giving them up. The addiction was already there. What is hard to understand is why young people still smoke today even though we know what it can do to their bodies.

Smoking can lead to heart attacks and stroke. By slowing down the flow of your blood, it puts a strain on your heart and blood vessels. This can lead to tissue death in limbs and even amputation. Tar from cigarettes will coat your lungs and lead to cancer. If you’ve ever listened to yourself or someone who is a smoker cough, you will hear the rattle of unhealthy lungs. It has been shown that using low-tar cigarettes is ineffective because smokers tend to drag the smoke deeper into their lungs.

Since you will have clogged blood vessels and coated lungs, it is easy to understand why you won’t be taking in as much oxygen as would a nonsmoker. Your muscles need oxygen to function as do your brain and body tissues. Second hand smoke leads to asthma in babies who are born to smoking mothers and their complications increase when parents continue to smoke in the home. They also have lower birth weights. For the smoker, the strain put on your body can lead to Emphysema, a disease that will slowly rot your lungs and cause a slow death. The Emphysema may cause chronic bronchitis and the strain can lead to heart and lung failure.

Smoking can lead to strokes. Since it causes fat deposits in your blood vessels, those vessels narrow and a stroke can occur. This can also lead to a heart attack. One in five deaths from heart disease is caused by smoking except in younger people where it is three out of four.

Cancers other than lung may not be directly linked to smoking. However, there are more smokers who develop almost every type of cancer than do non-smokers. Smoking increases your risks for any of them. There is only one exception, the high rate of lung cancer among women who don’t smoke. Researchers haven’t found conclusive evidence to what causes this, but it is one exception, not the rule.

When the Surgeon General’s Report stated that “Cigarette smoking is the major single cause of cancer mortality in the United States” in 1982, it wasn’t just an opinion. It was a fact backed by research and statistics of deaths in the US. Why, then, when it’s still true today, have people not given up the habit?

Smoking is the most preventable cause of disease and premature death we face.

At least 30% of all cancers are a result of smoking cigarettes and about 87% of lung cancer deaths. If it became a requirement to put in the obituaries if a person had smoked and died of a smoke-related illness, maybe smokers would no longer be able to deny the dangers of smoking. Possibly the daily reminders would let smokers know that cigarettes are dangerous and can limit your quality, as well as quantity of life.

The most popular reason for youngsters to start the habit, is to look “cool”. However, tobacco yellows your teeth, makes your skin look sallow, and prematurely wrinkles your face. Eventually, you will look anything but cool from smoking.

If you think that cigarettes can’t be as harmful as everyone says because they are “natural” and made from tobacco that is grown on a farm, think again. Chemicals are added in the growing process and later for flavor enhancement and other things. There are more than sixty chemicals found in tobacco and tobacco smoke that are carcinogenic (cancer causing).

If you haven’t started smoking, then don’t. If you are a smoker, no matter for how long, you can quit. A lot of programs and drugs show some progress. It’s not too late to improve your odds and your quality of life.

The cause of skin cancer and melanomas does not lie entirely with the sun. If it did our ancestors would not have survived and we wouldn’t be here. It was almost unheard of 100 years ago; it’s been slowly increasing over the last 40 to 50 years. Cases of melanomas have doubled in the U.K. in the past 30 years. The sun hasn’t got any stronger and the ozone layer is still intact, but the foods we consume on a daily basis have changed vastly. It’s the sun, combined with nutritional deficiency that causes skin cancer. It’s the irritation caused by the sun burn that will determine where the cancer will take hold, but it’s the nutritional deficiencies and other lifestyle factors that causes it to grow, that’s why it keeps reappearing after treatments. The only ways to cure any skin cancers or melanomas are to address the underlying causes.

Cancer is not a 100 different diseases as we have become to believe but one disease in over 100 different locations. All cancers have mostly common causes. Remember that many people get skin cancer in areas of the body that don’t see a lot of the sun, like the soles of the feet or the palms of the hands. Also dark skin people get skin cancer just as much as fair skin people. The reasons why a person develops any cancer are well known, and to cure it, all these issues you must address.

The underlying causes are our lack of fresh fruit and vegetables, the use of too many toxic chemicals, many of which are know to be carcinogenic, our sedentary lifestyle, which because of it, our built in defence system which is our immune system has become sluggish and lastly emotional stress which does have a major impact on human health, including cancer.

Melanomas can be very aggressive so if one wants to cure themselves, they need to address all the factors mentioned above. Today we consume many foods which are not suitable for human consumption. For instance, processed foods which nearly all contain fat, salt or refined sugar and those 3 items are known contributors to cancer. The toxic chemicals we use on a daily basis which are mostly in personal care products and are absorbed into our body through our pores. Then we can thank the ubiquitous automobile for our lack of exercise. We need exercise to rid the body of toxins, as it boosts the all important immune system making it work more efficiently.

Emotional stress or unresolved conflict, not letting go of a problem, which might be the loss of a close friend, a business crisis or bankruptcy can have a major effect on the immune system and all cancers are simply a disease of a weak immune system.

There is no mystery about the causes of skin cancer or any other cancer. If you want to achieve a permanent cure, it is essential to eat freshly grown food everyday which is of paramount importance, remove all toxic chemicals, and get some exercise. If you are in the sun use some common sense and cover up during the hottest part of the day. That is the only way to become free of the disease….for good!

Skin cancer and melanomas are an entirely preventable and curable disease and our modern medical approaches are not necessary the most effective approach to healing cancer patients.

Alan Wighton is an independent health researcher, having spent many years gaining knowledge, particularly on the subject of cancer. If you have found this article helpful and would like to learn more, visit his website where you can download a free article that has been written with facts and information to help people overcome their cancer.

www.cancerhealed.com

Before the Baby Boomer period, no one was convinced that a each cigarette smoked puts the smoker one step closer to lung cancer. It was only in the period between 1946 and 1964 that experts were able to find conclusive evidence linking lung cancer to cigarette smoking.

The years following the boomer age saw the rise of anti-smoking campaigns and today, anti-smoking initiatives are still imposed at an accelerated pace.

According to the National Cancer Institute, cigarette smoking is the main culprit in 87 percent of lung cancer deaths and even plays a significant role in the development of cancers of the larynx, esophagus, bladder, oral cavity and pharynx. Not only that, smoking also increases the risk of suffering from cervical, stomach, kidney, pancreatic, and cervical cancers.

Nonsmokers are also at high-risk because secondhand smoking causes an estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths among American nonsmokers. Children may also develop respiratory illness due to secondhand smoking and this sends a clear message to parents and guardians to be wary of their habits before it hits their loved ones.

There are more than 60 harmful elements that are known to cause cancer in tobacco smoke and a thousand other chemical agents. Smokers, already wary of the perils of their smoking habit, often seek the help of professionals and are advised to cease the act to decrease the risk of lung and other cancers, stroke, chronic lung disease, and even heart attack.

Stopping the deadly habit has immediate positive effects for both genders and all ages as it immediately begins to reduce the risk of lung and other cancers previously mentioned. Research has shown that the sooner the person quits, the more favorable is the effect. For instance, those who quit before they reach the age of 50 cut off their risk of getting cancer in the following 15 years as compared to those who still continue smoking.

I started smoking when I was in high school. It was the cool thing to do and the hardest habit to break. I finally quit when I wanted to get pregnant. I am reminded of how prevalent smoking was when I watch Mad Men, one of my favorite TV shows that takes place in the 50s. Man, we really thought we looked good as we were killing ourselves!

How about the rest of you boomers? Are you still smoking? Or have you successfully kicked the habit. Come join boomeryearbook and share your comments and  experiences. We’d love to hear your stories.

www.boomeryearbook.com is a social networking site connecting the Baby Boomer generation. Share your thoughts, rediscover old friends, or expand your mind with brain games provided by clinical psychologist Dr. Karen Turner. Join today to discover the many ways we are helping Boomers connect for fun and profit.

for www.boomeryearbook.com

Lung cancer is now the most common form of cancer in the United States. Lung cancer causes more death than any other cancer cases among men and women in this country. Fourteen percent of all cancer records in the United States are lung cancer cases and twenty-eight percent of cancer deaths are from lung cancer patients.

Major causes of lung cancers are cigarette smoking and breathing impure air including asbestos exposure. Asbestos exposure can lead to Mesothelioma, a cancer in the lining of the lungs or abdominal cavity.

Severity of lung cancer depends greatly to the amount of time a person spent smoking. As compared to non-smokers, smokers are at high risk of lung cancer. In fact, smokers are twenty-two percent more at risk of acquiring lung cancer than their non-smoking counterpart.

Additionally, because lung cancer symptoms do not manifest until it is already on its advanced stage, minor lung cancer symptoms are often ignored.

This is because minor lung cancer symptom such as frequent coughing is often associated with itchiness in the throat. Smokers believe that this is an ordinary occurrence among smokers, thus they are not alarmed until they feel more severe lung cancer symptoms.

When this happens, truly the lung cancer symptom shows because of the advanced stage of the cancer. The uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the lungs is already manifesting through the lung cancer symptoms and by this time, secondary cancer cells are already developing in other organs of the body.

Severe lung cancer symptoms include persistent coughing, chronic chest pain, which is associated with shortness of breathing, wheezing and hoarseness of the voice.

Often, because of the similarity of lung cancer symptoms to bronchial asthma, people who self medicate usually try to treat the shortness of breathing with asthma medication.

The medication is thus useless because it is not working on the actual disease. It is thus imperative that minor discomforts such as shortness of breathing be brought to the attention of a competent doctor for evaluation. This will avoid treating a disease with a different medication such as in self-medicating patients.

Other lung cancer symptoms are blood in sputum, recurring cases of pneumonia or bronchitis, neck and facial swelling, sudden weight loss and constant feeling of fatigue. All these lung cancer symptoms occur on the terminal stage of the cancer, and this makes it almost impossible to manage lung cancer and it symptoms.

Additionally, because there is still no known cure for lung cancer, treatments especially on its advanced stage are done to lessen the severity of the lung cancer symptoms. Remission of the disease may no longer happen on the advanced stage.

Thus, it is imperative that minor lung cancer symptoms be monitored. It is still easier to manage lung cancer at this stage, other than in the advanced stage.

Finally, as mentioned earlier, smoking is the major cause of lung cancer, if you cease smoking, this effort will help you slow down the possibility of lung cancer. Even for those long time smokers, withdrawing from smoking will help lessen the possibility of acquiring the disease.

Keeping a healthy body and strong immune system will help avoid lung cancer for smokers or non-smokers alike.

Smokers may cease from smoking to help ensure they will not suffer lung cancer in the future. Then, they will not have to worry about lung cancer symptoms because halting smoking will also halt the possibility of acquiring this deadly disease.

Regular exercise will help ensure your immune system will be strong enough to fight lung cancer and thus no lung cancer symptoms will ever occur.

Living a healthy and active lifestyle, and avoiding smoking will ensure you will leave longer and better.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia have completed several years work to find a compound that seems to block the movement of the pigment cells that give tadpoles their unique markings. Uncontrolled movement of pigment cells has been linked to cancer in both humans and frogs, which means skin cancer detection and prevention could be improved.

Melanoma cells in particular, are known to migrate (or move) through the body to the organs, causing secondary tumors that are one of the more high-risk forms of cancer.

Melanomas are one of the most dangerous types of skin cancer because they’re both invasive and resistant to treatment.

Malignant melanoma is responsible for 75% of all skin cancer deaths, and about 160,000 new cases (over 62,000 in the U.S.) of melanoma are diagnosed worldwide each year.

If research can learn how to block this process, perhaps cancer spread can be delayed or even halted altogether.

Despite the hopeful outlook, practical applications in terms of medications are likely still years away.

The compound used in this study was selected from 3,000, screened to see if they effected the pigment cells. The compound, known as NSC 84093, produced a visible change in the color markings on the tadpoles when used in very low concentrations. The continuous stripe along the back was replaced by a pattern of blocks of color along the back of the tadpole.

Biologist and lead researcher Grant Wheeler at the University of East Anglia said, “Forty of the compounds gave us an interesting difference which we wanted to follow up.”

Apparently its easy to look at the tadpole embryos and see the color change – so many compounds could be tested.

A chemist at the University saw that the structure of the compound they were using had properties that showed it could bind to a zinc molecule. A substance expressed by melanoma tumors, matrix metaloproteinases (MMP) thought to be involved with cell behavior such as migration, is zinc dependent.

The compound identified by the British researchers keeps the MMP from doing what comes naturally. The team saw changes to patterning on the tadpoles depending on the strength of the dose given.

And if you’re wondering what tadpoles can tell us about cancer, it helps to understand how much we have in common with the little critters. These simple creatures diverged from man a mere 360 million years ago, though they still have the same organs, molecules and physiology as we do.

This tells us that cancers in the frogs will develop and act just as they do in people.

What’s more, the tadpole that becomes the South African Clawed Frog, produces eggs all year round so supplies of subjects are plentiful.

The intriguing study appears in the January 2009 journal Chemistry & Biology and though there is still a lot of work to be done, if these preliminary results hold, we may be one step close to finding an effective skin cancer detection process and treatment for one of many invasive forms of cancer. The next step is to test the compound in other animals.

It has been proved today that smoking harms a women much more than it does a man. Smoking is an addiction that has caught up with the women folk at a fast rate in the recent years. Especially in the developed western countries women with the fag is quite a common site. There need not be any more discussion on the harms of smoking. They have already been immensely stressed upon. But as people are now much more aware of the banes of this addiction there has been no development on the ‘no smoking’ front. Smoking stands true to the term addiction. Even if it practically kills, smokers find it difficult to part ways from it.

Coming back to the topic of smoking in women, time and again it has been proved that the ill effects of smoking are much more prominent and devastating in women. Still this does not deter millions of women from giving up the fag. One of the greatest ill effects of smoking in women is that smoking is a very potent trouble causer in a woman’s pregnancy. A smoking mother and even a smoking father can bring in abnormalities in the unborn baby. But the unborn baby is very much susceptible to danger if it has got a smoking mother. Smoking is a major contributor in making a women look old and ragged at quite an early age. Smoking has also been held responsible for cancer in the women.

According to a recent study conducted in the Ohio State University women who smoke are at the risk of developing rectal cancer twice as much as their non smoking counterparts. This is another new divulgion regarding the ill effects of smoking in the women. It is not just enough to give up smoking. Giving up smoking at an advanced state cannot be very helpful in eradicating the chances of the occurrence of rectal cancer. Rectal cancer persists in women who give up smoking after several years of living with the smoke.

Rectal cancer is also determined by the intensity and the degree of smoking of a person. Even if a woman has been smoking for a short period, she might run the risk of having rectal cancer if she smoked to an immense degree. The intensity of smoking plays a vital role in the occurrence of rectal cancer in women.

Today, however there are ways to get rid of the fateful habit of smoking. Thanks to the gift of science and technology, today medical science invented the concept of no smoking pills. Addiction being the thing it is, it is quite difficult to give up. Though there are people who succeed in giving up the addiction of smoking or for that matter any other addiction, majority of the addicts fail in terms of determination and will power in giving up a particular addiction. Therefore the drug company Pfizer took up the initiative of inventing a drug that enables a smoker to give up smoking. Pfizer Chantix the name of the drug works by meeting the craving for nicotine in a person. Anti smoking pill Chantix is the first of its kind though today there are similar drugs available in the market. But as Chantix is relatively costly its target customers are the affluent section of the society. Once a person attains chantix prescription he or she can order Chantix. It is actually quite easy to buy chantix as it is even available online. When I say smoking kills what I actually mean is that, smoking brings in diseases that have the supreme ability of killing a person. Therefore instead of spending money on curing those smoking induced diseases you can be wise and spend on chantix online instead and get rid of the cause itself. This will definitely pay!

Smoking is the single biggest cause of cancer in the world, and accounts for one in four cancer deaths in the States. Smoking is known to cause around eighty percent of lung cancer around the world. The 1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse has shown that about 62 million people in the United States above 12 years or below 29 percent of the population are current cigarette smokers. So, this makes nicotine, the addictive component of tobacco, one of the most heavily used addictive drugs in the United States. Within the United States, tobacco use was responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths or an estimated 438,000 premature deaths per year from 1997 to 2001 & thus, smoking kills five times more people than road accidents, overdoses, murder, suicides and HIV all put together.

Nicotine: Many people believe that nicotine causes cancer but the fact is that it only leads to addiction. Whenever a person inhales cigarette smoke, the nicotine present in the smoke is rapidly absorbed into the blood and its affect on the brain is shown within 7 seconds. In the brain, nicotine activates the same reward system as do other drug abuse such as cocaine or amphetamine, but to a lesser extent. Nicotine acts on this reward system and is believed to be responsible for drug-induced feelings of pleasure and, over time, nicotine addiction. It also increases alertness and enhances mental performance. Studies indicate that nicotine by itself may not be harmful. But, when it is combined with other harmful substances such as areca nut, cancer causing catechu substitutes like gambier & magnesium carbonate, it may show damaging effects.

Apart from nicotine, cigarette smoke contains around 4,000 different compounds, many of which may cause cancer. In fact tobacco smoke contains about 70 different carcinogens or cancer-causing substances. When you inhale smoke, these chemicals enter your lungs and spread around the rest of your body. Scientists have shown that these chemicals are mutagenic & can damage DNA and change expression of various genes which may lead to cancer by making your cells proliferate and multiply uncontrollably. No wonder, smoking is the major cause of lung cancer and is also associated with the increased risk for cancer of the mouth, nasal cavities (nose), larynx (voice box), pharynx (throat), esophagus (swallowing tube), stomach, liver, pancreas, kidney, bladder, uterine cervix, and acute myeloid leukemia.

Oral tobacco products contain 28 known cancer-causing agents (carcinogens). Chewing tobacco is a known cause of oral cancer & according to Women’s Health in South East Asia (WHOSEA), almost one-half of all cancer cases in men and one-quarter of all cancer cases in women in India are believed to be tobacco-related.

Not all smokers get cancer: Years of research has proven that smoking causes cancer but this doesn’t mean that all smokers will definitely get cancer or that all non-smokers won’t. It means that smoking greatly increases the risk of cancer & Smokers are, on average, much more likely to get cancer than non-smokers.

A solar keratosis is a small, rough, bump which develops on the skin. It is caused by continuous exposure to sun. Treatment is usually advised as there is a small risk that it may eventually turn into skin cancer.

Freezing a solar keratosis with liquid nitrogen is the common treatment. Cutting out or scrapping off the solar keratosis are other options. Although not all solar keratosis progress into a melanoma, if you have SK then your risk of developing a melanoma at some other part of your skin is increased.

People with fair skin who do not tan easily are most commonly affected. Because their skin has less protective pigment, they are the most susceptible to sunburn and other forms of sun damage. The more serious type of skin cancer, melanoma, most commonly occurs in people who have had a lot of sun exposure.

So, tell a doctor soon if you notice any changes in any part of your skin such as new moles, small dark patches developing, etc. There are other spots, called seborrheic keratoses, that are not caused by sun exposure and have no relationship to skin cancers. Because their growth is often hard to predict,many skin specialists think it is safest to consider them as a form of squamous cell skin cancer.

Treatment is usually advised if you have more than one solar keratosis. Doctors can usually diagnose an actinic keratosis just by examining it. For instance, for every 100 cases of solar keratosis, 50 per cent will get better in a few years, and 50 per cent will stay the same or get worse. SK is caused by continuous exposure to sun and changes the size, shape, structure and organisation of our skin cells.

Cancers that develop from melanocytes, the pigment-making cells of the skin, are called melanomas. This is not the most serious form of skin cancer. If you spend much time in the sun you have an increased risk of developing solar keratoses, certain types of skin cancer and various other skin problems.

The vast majority of these cancers develop in areas of severe sun damage, particularly within or contiguous to areas of solar keratoses, but it has not been possible thus far to predict who will develop these potentially dangerous skin cancers.

So, although solar keratosis does not always progress into a melanoma, if you have SK then your risk of developing a melanoma at some other part of your skin is increased. The natural cure for SK is crocodile oil, this has been used for centuries for many skin problems. Many sufferers hav testified that they no longer have to have their SK burnt off as their skin has healed naturally with this balm.