Other methods can be used to treat non-melanoma skin cancers that have not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body. Some of these treatments are described as types of "surgery" since they destroy tissue. But these methods don't involve cutting into the skin.
Cryosurgery
In this treatment liquid nitrogen is used to freeze and kill cancer cells. After the dead area of skin thaws it may swell, blister, and crust over. The wound may take a month or 2 to heal and will leave a scar. The treated area may have less color after treatment.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT)
This treatment involves giving patients a drug that collects in the cancer cells over the course of many hours or days. The drug is either put right on the skin or injected into the blood. It makes the cancer cells sensitive to certain types of light. A light source is then focused on the cancer. It “turns on” the drug so it kills the cells. A possible side effect of PDT is that it can make a person's skin very sensitive to sunlight for a while, so patients may need to be careful to avoid sunlight so they don't get bad burns. To find out more about this treatment, see our document called Photodynamic Therapy.
Topical chemotherapy
Chemotherapy ("chemo") is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Topical chemo means that a drug is put right on the skin (usually in a cream or ointment) rather than being given by mouth or put into a vein.
When put right on the skin in the form of a cream, the drug reaches cancer cells near the skin surface. But it does not reach cancer cells that have gone deep into the skin or spread to other organs. For this reason, this kind of treatment is most often used only for certain types of skin cancer or other skin conditions that could become cancer.
This treatment can cause the treated skin to be red and tender for a few weeks, which can be quite bothersome for some people.
Immune response modifiers
Certain drugs can boost the body's immune system response to the cancer, causing the cancer to shrink or go away.
These drugs do not kill the cancer cells and are not chemo. Instead, they cause the body's immune system to react to the skin problem and make it go away.
Interferon is a man-made version of an immune system protein. It can be put right into the tumor to boost the body's immune response to fight it. Interferon may be used when surgery is not possible, but it may not work as well as other treatments.
Laser surgery
This newer treatment uses a beam of light to kill cancer cells. It is sometimes useful for squamous cell cancer that hasn't spread and for some basal cell cancers. It's not yet known whether laser surgery works as well as standard methods of treatment, and it is not widely used.
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