If you have received a diagnosis of skin cancer you could well be unsure about the treatment you will be receiving as, even if you have already talked through your treatment options with your doctor, you might still be reeling from all the medical jargon that was thrown at you. You might not have been able to take in the information given to you by your doctor because of the shock following your diagnosis.

Detailed below therefore is a brief outline of a few of the treatments that are typically used to deal with skin cancer.

The type of treatment you will receive will depend upon a number of different things which include things like your age and whether or not the cancer has spread beyond your skin.

Treatment may include surgery in which the surgeon may decide to remove the cancerous region itself and also some of the surrounding skin. The amount of health skin to be removed will depend on the specific form of cancer found and how deep that cancer is. Ordinarily an area of about one to two centimeters of surrounding skin will be removed.

As well as conventional surgery, some types of skin cancer can be removed by freezing using liquid nitrogen or removed with drugs such as Imiquimod which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the use on superficial basal cell carcinoma.

More extensive surgery might be needed where a sentinel lymph node is found to contain cancer cells following a biopsy of any suspect area. This type of surgery is designed to remove lymph nodes near to the cancer along with affected skin and is often followed up with a course of radiotherapy.

Another recent development in the treatment of skin cancer is what is known as immunotherapy cancer vaccination although research into this particular form of treatment is still under way and it is as yet not widely available. Chemotherapy may also be ordered if your cancer has spread to other areas.

Although there is no specific preventative regime for skin cancer there are various things which you can do to reduce your risk of developing the problem and by far and away the most important and generally disregarded is to reduce your skin's exposure to the sun.

All of us, regardless of the color or type of skin you have should use a sunscreen which has a protection factor of at least 15. It is also a good idea to wear sufficient clothing and remain out of the sun as much as possible, especially between 11am and 3pm when the sun's rays are stronger. It is always advisable not to use sunlamps and sun beds as these also give off harmful rays.

Lastly, keep an eye on your skin and pay particular attention to any alterations to moles and lesions. If you are conscious of a change then you ought to visit your physician as quickly as you can so that treatment can be started without delay