Basal cell carcinoma is a type of skin cancer. Basal cell carcinoma begins in the basal cells-a type of cell within the skin that produces new skin cells as old ones die off.

Basal cell carcinoma often appears as a slightly transparent bump on the skin, though it can take other forms. Basal cell carcinoma occurs most often on areas of the skin that are exposed to the sun, such as your head and neck.

Most basal cell carcinomas are thought to be caused by long-term exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight. Avoiding the sun and using sunscreen may help protect against basal cell carcinoma.

Symptoms

Basal cell carcinoma usually develops on sun-exposed parts of your body, especially your head and neck. Less often, basal cell carcinoma can develop on parts of your body usually protected from the sun, such as the genitals.

Basal cell carcinoma appears as a change in the skin, such as a growth or a sore that won't heal. These changes in the skin (lesions) usually have one of the following characteristics:

• A pearly white, skin-colored or pink bump
• A brown, black or blue lesion
• A flat, scaly, reddish patch
• A white, waxy, scar-like lesion

Causes

Basal cell carcinoma occurs when one of the skin's basal cells develops a mutation in its DNA.

Basal cells are found at the bottom of the epidermis — the outermost layer of skin. Basal cells produce new skin cells. As new skin cells are produced, they push older cells toward the skin's surface, where the old cells die and are sloughed off.

The process of creating new skin cells is controlled by a basal cell's DNA. The DNA contains the instructions that tell a cell what to do. The mutation tells the basal cell to multiply rapidly and continue growing when it would normally die. Eventually the accumulating abnormal cells may form a cancerous tumor-the lesion that appears on the skin.

Risk factors

• Chronic sun exposure
• Radiation therapy
• Fair skin
• Increasing age
• A personal or family history of skin cancer
• Immune-suppressing drugs
• Exposure to arsenic
• Inherited syndromes that cause skin cancer

Complications

• A risk of recurrence
• An increased risk of other types of skin cancer
• Cancer that spreads beyond the skin

Diagnosis

• Skin exam
• Skin sample for testing

Treatment

• Surgery
• Other treatments

Curettage and electrodessication (C and E)

Radiation therapy

Freezing

Topical treatments

Photodynamic therapy

• Treatment for cancer that spreads

Targeted drug therapy

Chemotherapy

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