Skin cancer

 
What is skin cancer?

It is a change in the normal cells of the skin that start to divide indefinitely and out of control. The resulting abnormal cells don’t show respect to the normal skin boundaries, so they start to invade the surrounding normal skin layers and even deeper to the muscles and bones. In very advanced stages, the tumor can spread to a far distant site and become very advanced.

What is the situation in Canada?

According to Statistics Canada https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/start   One in every three patients with cancer has skin cancer, Ultraviolet radiation is responsible for 80-90% of the cases. Each year, as many as 80,000 new cases of skin cancer are diagnosed, of which 5,000 are melanoma skin cancer.

What causes skin cancer?

Many factors are responsible for skin cancer incidences such as repeated exposure to the sun especially if sunscreens are not used, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and chemicals.

Can Hair dyes cause skin cancer?

According to the latest research review done on both animals and humans and published in the American Cancer Society Site https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/hair-dyes.html, there is no conclusive evidence of the carcinogenicity of hair dyes in causing skin cancers. It was assumed that the use of aromatic amines in the manufacture of hair dyes could be a cause of skin cancer as proved in many animal studies, however, this chemical has not been anymore used in the hair dye industry since the 1970s, and also in the animal experiments they were using a very high amount of this chemical to prove its association with the skin cancer which is not normally used in human hair industry.

How can we treat skin cancer?

Surgery and radiation are the main treatment modalities in treating skin cancer. Melanoma can be treated with surgery and biological agents such as Interferon or monoclonal antibodies such as vemurafenib (Zelboraf), or Dabrafenib (Tafinlar).

How can Naturopathic doctors help to manage skin cancer?

There are many ways naturopath doctors can support your treatment. In addition to the usual and standard medical treatments such as surgery and radiation, your skin needs to be healthy again and its cells need to divide normally. The recovery of normal skin health by improving nutrition and supplementing good amounts of the vitamins and minerals your body needs is an integral part of the naturopathic doctors' care for you. Moreover, the use of natural supplements such as fermented wheat extract (or Avemar), proved scientifically that it increases the 7 years survival rates of patients with melanoma as per this scientific research https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cbr.2008.0486

In more advanced cases, the use of intravenous high-dose vitamin C can be very helpful in reducing the tumor size or ameliorating the signs and symptoms of the disease.

Have questions? Need help?

Do not hesitate to contact the clinic at https://www.ontarionaturopathicclinic.ca/site/contact-naturpathic-dr-grimsby-niagara