Skin Cancer

Describe the pathophysiology of the general process of abnormal cellular growth as it relates to all types of cancer.

Normal cells become cancer cells because of DNA damage. In cancer cells, damaged cells are not repaired and they do not die; instead, the cells reproduce damaged cells. These cells grow out of control and invade other tissues (American Cancer Society, 2013).

Compare and contrast the pathophysiology of basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and malignant melanoma.

Basal cell carcinomas develop in the basal cell layer of the skin, usually due to sun light exposure causing DNA damage in the form of thymine dimers. Squamous cell carcinoma develops from the epidermal ketarinocytes, generally from sun exposure although other carcinogens can cause this cancer on skin that does not get sun exposure. Malignant melanoma arises from melanocytes and can occur spontaneously or from preexisting lesions and are linked to sun...
[ View Full Essay]