Staff Report
BRADENTON – With a now-chronic uptick in skin cancer, medical facilities that specialize in treating the skin disease have seen an increase in patients. A
study done in 2006 found that overall rates of skin cancer had increased by 76.9 percent from 1992; in Florida, prolonged exposure to the sweltering sun, as well as tanning beds–which are not restricted to adult usage, as they are in several other states–have made it one of the more welcoming states for skin cancer.
As the most common form of cancer in the U.S., nonmelanoma skin cancer has also become of the easiest types of cancers to treat, thanks to advancing technology.
With the majority of NMSC occurring in people over the age of 60, some with medical conditions such as diabetes and cardiac disease make surgical skin cancer treatment a serious health risk. For others diagnosed with NMSC on their head and neck, the potential for unsightly scarring and reconstructive plastic surgery means surgical treatment is less than ideal.
Leveraging a technology that has proved remarkably safe and effective for more than 50 years,
Superficial Radiation Therapy (SRT) is non-invasive and has over a 95 percent cure rate. A form of treatment for non-melanoma skin cancers that allows x-rays to
make shallow inroads into the skin, SRT is often used as an alternative
to surgical procedures for both basal and squamous skin cancer
conditions.
With SRT home-care now widely available, mobile treatment has now become a modern convenience for cancer patients.
In the case of Sun City resident Tom Wolf, what he first believed to be a simple cyst or sore above his right eye turned out to be a squamous tumor upon getting it checked. Also known as epidermoid carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma cells form in skin tissue, as well as the lining for hollow organs, and digestive and respiratory tracts.
Wolf, a patient of Dr. Jack Jawitz M.D. at
Bradenton Dermatology and Laser who was given SRT after receiving his diagnosis, said he opted for SRT after finding out the details of the alternative treatment. "I chose it (SRT) because they were going to cut out my right eye. I didn't want a hole in my head where they had to cut it out. So I went with the radiation," he said.
After having his initial treatment done at BD&L's office, Wolf said the other twelve were performed at his home in Sun City.
"I'm from Ohio; up there you don't have the intense sunlight that you have down here," said Wolf. "My doctors told me that when basal carcinoma spreads, it usually goes to the lungs or the brain.“
Contact Bradenton Dermatology and Laser at 941.755.2255 for more information on this type of mobile cancer treatment.
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