Treatment options

 

The treatment you have will depend on where the cancer is, if it has spread and your general health. Find out how DNA testing may help determine the treatment you receive.

 

Surgery

This is the main treatment for Melanoma. There are a number of different surgical procedures that can be carried out. The team may decide they only need to remove the melanoma and the healthy skin around it. You may also be offered a sentinel lymph node biopsy. This can help determine if the cancer has spread to the local lymph nodes. If this is the case, you may be able to have additional preventative treatment to help reduce the risk of the cancer coming back. If the cancer has spread they may also remove any swollen lymph nodes. Finally, you may need surgery on other parts of your body if the melanoma has spread.

If the melanoma is on a visible part of your body, such as your face, you may need a skin graft. This involves taking healthy skin from another part of your body, that is not usually visible, and attaching (grafting) it to the affected area.

Discover more about cancer surgery at Royal Surrey.

 

Immunotherapy

This helps your immune system find and kill the cancer cells. It is sometimes used to treat melanomas that cannot be treated by surgery, have spread to lymph glands or other areas of the body.

Read more about immunotherapy at Royal Surrey Cancer Centre.

 

Targeted  Therapy

There are different types of targeted therapy. Each type targets something in or around the cancer cell that is helping it grow and survive.

 

Radiotherapy

This involves using a low dose of radiation and it is sometimes used to reduce the size of large melanomas and help control the symptoms.

Find out more about radiotherapy at Royal Surrey Cancer Centre.

 

Chemotherapy

This uses medicine to kill cancer cells. Learn more about chemotherapy at Royal Surrey Cancer Centre.

 

Surgery 

This will involve cutting out the cancer along with any surrounding healthy tissue to ensure the cancer is completely removed. In the majority of cases, this is enough to cure non-melanoma skin cancer.

Sometimes a skin graft will be done at the same time, which will see a patch of healthy skin removed from a part of the body that is not normally visible. This healthy patch of skin is then attached (grafted) to the affected area.

Learn more about cancer surgery at Royal Surrey.

 

There are other non-surgical treatments, which are as follows:

 

Cryotherapy

This uses a cold treatment to destroy the cancer. It will see liquid nitrogen used to freeze the cancer, which will cause the area to scab over. The scab containing the cancer will then fall off your skin. This process takes about one month.

 

Anti-cancer cancer creams

These are only used when the cancer is contained within the top layer of the skin. The cream is applied to the affected area for several weeks.

 

Radiotherapy

This involves using a low dose of radiation to destroy the cancer. Find out more about radiotherapy at Royal Surrey Cancer Centre.

 

Immunotherapy  

Immunotherapy works by helping the immune system recognise and attack cancer cells. Discover more about immunotherapy at Royal Surrey Cancer Centre.