The Dark Side

of Skin Cancer

I have been working in the Skin Cancer field for many years.          

2 Things break my heart that I want to share with you.

Number 1

Never give up

It works like this: After his visit to the doc who diagnosed at least 10 skin cancers, Peter says: “Just leave it with me Doc. I've come this far and I don't have too much longer to go...”

And then Peter lives another 10 or even 15 yrs! And the skin cancers cause a total misery and might well kill him in the end. And his family and friends all end up desperate - quietly wishing for it all to end.

The tragedy: It's so simple to prevent and treat skin cancer early. And even if it is already late in the day with many advanced skin cancers, ask your Doc to pick the worse ones.  The ones that spread and infiltrate vital organs like eyes, nose, mouth and brain.  Eradicate the high-risk cancers or at least try to get them under control.

There are different kinds of skin cancers. Some are experts in local infiltration and destruction, others spread to glands and lungs etc and others usually spread themselves superficially over a long period of time before they might change character.

So if you feel like throwing in the towel, at least ask your Doc to do some biopsies and risk estimates. Confirm the type and position of the cancers. Then work with your Doc on a plan to contain them enough to allow you (from our human perspective) to exit this world with the maximum comfort and grace when the time comes.

You organise and plan everything else for the Great Exit, why not plan and organise these simple manageable skin cancers as well?

Number 2

Don't go “Alternative”

The way of thinking (not talking!) goes like this:

“Well, I'm fairly tough and certainly not stupid. Learnt quite a few lessons in life too... The pharmaceutical companies and the doctors are all there to make money. And I don't blame them. I probably would have done the same. But I'll rather leave the bit of money I have to the kids and the grand kids. Any way, the pharmaceutical companies make all their stuff from natural stuff. Jack had good success with Cansema. I can use that or I can use some Radium Weed as well”.

“I might just go and check-out the doc first to keep the children happy, but I'm not getting cut!!”

And then he checks out the doc and sticks to his plan ...

Not good

I understand the way of thinking though. I even have to admit to sometimes thinking like that myself! But there is an error in the thinking process.  If the Cansema worked well, why hasn't the pharmaceutical companies and the doctors used it in their medications?

See, there is one thing the professionals are really scared of and that is to be associated with something that does NOT work or even worse, harm a patient! You see, it does not only harm the patient but also harms the doctor's reputation. In fact, it could cost him his career! But this principle does not work for the guys that makes and sells Cansema ...     

So be very careful. Your smart solution could well be a trap with a one-way door.

We actually know how Cansema (Black salve) works, I that's why we as docs stay well clear of it.

Cansema is an “escharotic”. An escharotic is an agent that causes indiscriminate tissue destruction resulting in a scab (eschar) of dead skin and tissue.

Ever tried to shoot an intruder through a closed door? Think what happened to Oscar Pistorius shooting through the bathroom door in the dark after he heard a noise inside.

Very bad idea.

When you apply Cansema you kill everything in the path of a lesion. You don't know the type of cancer and you don't know the stage, the depth and size of the cancer. In fact you don't even know if it is a cancer at all. But the worse of it all is the resulting eschar that can take months and even years to heal in a deep scar. Now, suppose it was a cancer and you did not eradicate it, where is it now? It might be buried under the scar and spread to lymph glands before you see anything appear on the skin surface again. And worse of all, if you visit the doc, he really has no idea what to look for and a biopsy is close to useless. Because of the distorted anatomy and histology even the Pathologist is often unable to interpret his findings correctly.  

In fact, this is one of my most feared topics for a nightmare.                                                                                                                          

No experience and no guidelines can help the doc through this totally unpredictable dilemma.

My Humble Opinion:  

“Don't even consider shooting through a closed door – especially not in the dark ...”

Number 3

I know I said there are only 2 things but that is because Thing No 3 is actually a bit of a philosophy.

You see, the skin is not only the largest organ in the body, but it's also the envelope in which you are delivered.

These days letters go by the click of a button and a “sheeuhh!” over the microphone. But grandma picked a clean white envelope, wrote with the neatest of her handwriting, applied a colourful stamp very square in the right upper corner and wrote on the back all her personal particulars. The letter then went to the Post Master who checked it all over. And if he was satisfied, he approved it with one of his special looking official stamps.

And I reckon all that enveloping was about the content. I reckon grandma dressed her envelopes up to look smart because she was proud of the content.

And that is my Humble Opinion

Dr Gabriel Roux