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| Skin Lesions and Biopsy |
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Human skin and subcutaneous tissue are susceptible to various tumors from very small to very large ones with different characteristics and behavior during lifetime. They can be benign or malignant. The treatment of skin tumors depends on their characteristics. Some are excised for cosmetic reasons, especially if they are on the face. Others are excised because they represent such a diseased group of tumors that surgery is required. In case of malignant tumors surgery may be combined with other types of therapy, medications or x-ray radiation before all.
Moles are a large and complex group of round efflorescences on the skin with intensified pigmentation. They appear at birth or during lifetime. This skin growth does not change during lifetime or grows proportionally with the area of the body where it is located. In general, it is very hard to give an adequate definition of moles. They vary in size, they may be more or less raised, and sometimes they cling to the surface of the skin by a thin stem. Their surface is smooth or granular; they can be yellowish or dark brown. Excess hair may grow on moles, as well as sebaceous cyst or scaly growth. They are most frequently localized on the face, neck and chest. They can be benign, but mechanical stimuli and micro-trauma are particularly dangerous because they can lead to a malignant change.
Malignant skin cancer is called melanoma. It is usually dark brown or black. Its color originates from the cumulated pigment of melanin. It primarily appears on the skin, i.e. more frequently on the face, legs (particularly on the feet) or on the genitalia, but it can also appear on any other part of the skin. In 50 to 70 cases it develops from pigmented moles. It can also appear on the mucous membrane, on the eye, or on other organs, but also on the skin on which no changes can be detected at a glance.
A malignant change in a mole must be suspected if on a mole unchanging for years the following changes are suddenly observed:
- changes in pigmentation (the mole becomes darker, has ragged edges or even becomes paler),
- other signs include itching, elevation of the mole above the skin, bleeding or lesion.
