I thought it was a mole. "Skin cancer." Reconstruction is as important as removal
Aug 04, 2024
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Skin cancer is largely divided into basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and malignant melanoma. In the case of basal cell carcinoma, which is the most common, it usually begins with a small, hard nodule and is often mistaken for a mole. It is the most common, but fortunately, growth is slow, and metastasis rarely occurs to other areas. It tends to occur mainly in the center of the face, including the eyes and nose. Flat epithelial cancer can also occur mainly on the face, such as lips and face, and it sometimes metastasizes to internal organs, so early detection is important. The most lethal malignant melanoma can cause metastasis to the gut or central nervous system, leading to death if the timing of treatment is missed, so special care should be taken.
If skin cancer is detected early, most of it can be cured through treatment. The fundamental treatment is surgical complete resection to remove the tumor, which should be followed by reconstructive surgery that is satisfactory to the patient in terms of beauty and functionality. In the case of skin cancer on the face, if the patient focuses only on removing the tumor without considering reconstruction, the quality of life of the patient can be greatly reduced. This is because it can cause permanent changes in facial shape depending on the location and severity of skin cancer, and for this reason reconstructive surgery of plastic surgery is as important a part of skin cancer treatment as tumor resection.
Various surgical methods are considered depending on the patient's condition, such as removing small scars, primary sutures to pull and sew skin on both sides of the defect, skin grafts to transplant skin from other body parts, and vitreous epithelium. In the case of primary sutures, most of them are performed when the defect area is small, and in the case of a general-sized lesion, reconstruction is possible with local flap. Since local skin grafting uses adjacent surrounding tissues to fill in the defect area, there is little difference in skin color between tissues, so good results can be expected in terms of beauty. On the other hand, vitreous lithotripsy, which covers tissue in far-flung areas, is considered a high-level surgery that requires expertise in microvascular anastomosis as the tissue collected can necrotize if it fails.
Lee Tae-yeol, a professor of plastic surgery at Korea University's Ansan Hospital, said, `In the treatment of skin cancer, reconstructive surgery is as important as the complete removal of cancer cells.'"The purpose of reconstructive surgery is to repair damaged tissues, reconstruct body parts, and restore them to the patient's satisfactory appearance and function", he explained.
In particular, it is essential to cooperate with related medical departments such as plastic surgery and dermatology for the complete removal of cancer cells and the complete reconstruction of beauty and functionality, he said.
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bellho@sportschosun.com
