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BASAL CELL CARCINOMA
I.
Definition:
A basal cell carcinoma is a form of skin
cancer. Basal cell carcinomas are the result of sun damage to the skin. Basal
cell carcinomas enlarge slowly and steadily and can invade neighboring tissue,
like the eye, but they usually do not spread to distant parts of the body
(metastasize). The only way to tell for sure if a skin growth is cancerous is to
biopsy it. This involves removing a small piece of the skin and having a
pathologist look at it under the microscope in a medical laboratory. A biopsy
does not remove the cancer, it only takes off the very top (like the tip of an
iceberg). Sometimes the skin will heal after the biopsy because it grows over
the cancer. This does not mean the cancer is gone, it means the cancer is now
covered with a blanket of skin. If the cancer is not removed completely it can
go deep into the skin and cause great harm.
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