Don’t mistake skin cancer for a dark spot on the face Is cancer contagious? This common spot on the skin is actually skin cancer! As time passes, our skin starts to have problems, the most common one is to have some gray or brown spots, commonly known as “age spots”. These age spots not only affect the beauty of the skin, but also confuse our judgment of the disease! What are the possible diseases of age spots?
1.Age spots usually do not need treatment
Age spots, which we often call seborrheic keratosis, are a kind of benign skin lesions commonly found in clinical practice, and middle-aged and elderly people are the most common ones (young people may also grow them).
It is generally believed that, besides age and congenital genetics, the development of age spots is also related to many factors. For example, excessive fat intake, too little antioxidants (such as vitamin E), or even oil splashes on the hands leaving pigmentation, all tend to lead to premature appearance. However, the primary cause of age spots is excessive exposure to UV rays.
Age spots tend to grow on the hands or face because these two parts are exposed the most. If you have more spots on your hands than on your face, it usually means that your hands are not as well protected from the sun as your face, and vice versa. Therefore, to prevent age spots, the most important thing is to do a good job of sun protection, and try to avoid dryness and freezing.
Early age spots are small, flat, clearly demarcated patches with smooth surface and light yellowish brown or brownish brown color.
Later on, the rash gradually increases and thickens, and the surface becomes more papilloma-like and can form a thick oily crust. Over time, the patches will gradually become more prominent and vary greatly in color, appearing light teal or even dark brown or black. The course of the disease is usually slow, and the damage may expand to the surrounding area, but it may also fuse into large patches that do not fade on their own.
Age spots usually do not require treatment and are only an aesthetic problem. Laser treatment can be used to achieve the desired cosmetic effect, and liquid nitrogen freezing treatment is also available. It is important to note that this beauty treatment is not beauty treatment in the general sense, but belongs to the category of therapeutic medical beauty, so you must choose a regular hospital.
Some clinics or beauty salons claiming to be able to remove spots and moles may not have the ability to make a clear diagnosis, and they may not understand the tissue structure of moles, which may lead to complications such as scars and malignant changes once they are treated incorrectly.
2.Don’t mistake skin cancer as age spots
Ms. Liu, a 56-year-old woman, has been experiencing particularly crazy growth of “black spots” on her face in the past few years. She was surprised that her “age spots” came so early, so she had to go in and out of beauty salons frequently, but the effect of removing spots was not obvious, so she had to go to a plastic beauty hospital to do laser. However, when the doctor saw her dark spots, he already suspected that they were not ordinary “age spots” and found out that they were basal cell carcinoma after examination.
Basal cell carcinoma is one of the most common malignant tumors in dermatology, mostly occurring in people over 40 years old. Basal cell carcinoma is especially likely to occur on the head and face, with about 70% to 90% occurring on the side of nose, cheek and forehead. Therefore, in daily life, many women think it is just a common “age spot”.
Besides basal cell carcinoma, other skin tumors include malignant melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, Bowen’s disease, and solar keratosis. Sun exposure may increase the number of pigmented nevi in exposed areas or contribute to the malignancy of certain diseases, such as solar keratosis and basal cell carcinoma, but they are fundamentally different from benign lesions like age spots. Therefore, whether it is age spots or skin cancer, it must be clearly distinguished before treatment.
How to distinguish age spots from skin cancer? Generally speaking, moles with asymmetric shape, uneven color, larger than 0.6cm in diameter and bulging; moles growing on the palms of hands, feet, red lips and genitalia need to be taken seriously and may have the risk of malignant transformation. In addition, Bowen’s disease and solar keratosis, which are precancerous stages of skin cancer, need special attention from patients.
Skin cancer is superficial and easily accessible, so there are more treatment methods. Such as surgical excision, radiotherapy, cryotherapy, laser therapy, local drug physical erosion therapy and chemotherapy, etc. Most of skin malignant tumors and precancerous lesions can be cured in early stage, such as solar keratosis, basal cell carcinoma, etc. Early detection and early intervention and treatment can achieve good treatment effect and prevent cancerous changes.
3.How to treat age spots correctly
Don’t expose to the sun anymore if you have age spots. Some people have a lot of age spots, while others have very few, or only a few when they are very old, the reasons for which are not very clear. In order to prevent age spots or avoid their aggravation, the main thing is to avoid sunlight and sun exposure.
Secondly, we should know that most of the pigmented skin diseases occurring on the face are benign, so that we do not ignore them and do not need to be overly nervous. If some moles, dark spots or other suspicious nodular plaque-like lesions appear on the face with an increasing tendency, one must pay attention to early diagnosis and treatment and make the right choice to avoid serious consequences.
In folklore, many people use garlic to rub old age spots, thinking that it can lighten or even eliminate the spots. Others suggest using vitamin E liquid to apply on age spots. This is actually not a standard practice and unnecessary.
Nowadays, there are very professional drugs in dermatology, and the amount of use and drug ingredients are clear, so rubbing it every day will guarantee the dose and effect, while using ginger, vitamin E liquid, garlic …… randomly is not known in concentration and the amount is not easy to grasp, which may in turn cause side effects, so it is recommended not to abuse folk remedies.
There are many ways to prevent and control age spots in daily life, such as eating more fresh vegetables and fruits, eating some sweet potatoes and oatmeal every day, not eating too much for dinner, walking more on weekdays to promote intestinal peristalsis and keep bowel movements open, once a day. Avoid exposure to sunlight as much as possible, keep your mood happy, take the initiative to work out and promote blood circulation, etc. All these methods can delay or reduce the age spots.
Conclusion
Age spots are not terrible, as long as you take the necessary protective measures, you can nip the danger in the bud.