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Basal Cell Carcinoma Treatment

Our dermatologic nurses have extensive experience caring for people with basal cell carcinomas.

At Memorial Sloan Kettering, our basal cell carcinoma doctors and experts are able to easily and successfully treat basal cell carcinomas with currently available treatments. It's a highly curable cancer with both surgical and nonsurgical therapies, especially if treated early.

Which treatment is used depends on:

where the tumor is

how big the tumor is

how deep the tumor is

your general health

your medical history

whether the tumor has been treated before

There are many treatment options are available for basal cell carcinoma. Most can be easily done in your doctor's office. They include:

Cryotherapy

Cryotherapy is a nonsurgical treatment for basal cell carcinoma. Your doctor applies liquid nitrogen to the tumor, freezing the abnormal tissue. The frozen skin then sloughs off (falls away) as the skin underneath heals.

Curettage and Electrodesiccation

A very common treatment for basal cell carcinoma is curettage and electrodesiccation. It's most effective for low-risk tumors found on your trunk and limbs.

First, the area is numbed with a local anesthetic. Once the freezing has taken effect, your surgeon uses a curette (a semisharp instrument with a spoon-shaped edge) to scrape away the cancerous tissue. Once that is done, your doctor uses an electric needle to control the bleeding. This technique also destroys any cancer cells that may remain around the edge of the tumor. The wound usually heals within a few weeks.

Laser Surgery

With laser surgery, the tumor is vaporized with a highly focused light beam. Laser surgery only kills tumor cells on the surface of the skin and doesn't go deeper, so its use is limited and close follow-up is essential.

Mohs Surgery

Skin Cancer Doctors

MSK physicians who treat basal cell carcinoma and other skin cancers include dermatologists, Mohs surgeons, radiation oncologists, and medical oncologists.

Find a dermatologist or other specialist

For tumors with a high risk of recurrence, we may perform a highly specialized technique called Mohs surgery. In this procedure, your surgeon removes the tumor tissue layer by layer, mapping and freezing each layer. Each layer is examined under a microscope for tumor cells before proceeding to the next. This is a precise, complex, and time-consuming process, but Mohs surgery makes sure that the whole tumor is removed. It also limits the amount of scarring by keeping as much normal skin as possible.

Mohs surgery has the highest cure rate of all therapies and is especially effective for high-risk basal cell carcinomas, such as large tumors, tumors that have recurred after other treatments, and tumors in areas such as the face, where we want to preserve as much normal skin as possible.

Surgery

High-risk basal cell carcinoma is usually removed by surgery, which can be done anywhere on your body. To perform the procedure, called standard surgical excision or removal, your surgeon injects a local (area) anesthetic and then removes the tumor from your skin. A portion of tissue around the tumor (a safety margin) is also taken off to make sure that all the cancer cells have been removed. The wound is then closed with sutures (stitches).

Surgery is most effective for tumors with well-defined borders. One advantage to this procedure is that the tissue can be sent to a laboratory so a pathologist (a specialist who examines the tissue for signs of cancer) can verify if the whole tumor has been removed.

Learn about our skin cancer program for advanced skin cancers.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy, a treatment that involves x-rays or high-energy particles, can be useful for tumors in areas that are hard to treat surgically or for patients who are at a higher risk of having complications from surgery. Radiation is also sometimes used after surgery to destroy any cancerous cells that remain, or to treat tumors with a higher risk of recurrence.

Radiation is usually delivered in small doses over a period of three to four weeks to avoid burning the skin and to improve the cosmetic outcome.

Topical Chemotherapy

Mohs surgeon Anthony Rossi works with a team of experts so he can present patients with the full range of treatment options.

Most people think of chemotherapy as something they get by IV or take as pills. But topical chemotherapy treatments also exist. These are creams and lotions that contain chemotherapy drugs. Topical chemotherapy targets damaged skin without touching the surrounding normal tissue. However, because the cancerous tissue is not removed, it can't be tested.

Cure rates are typically lower with topical chemotherapy than with other therapies, so these treatments are usually reserved for small low-risk lesions. A drawback to topical chemotherapy is that it may not go through all the layers of the skin, so careful follow-up is essential after treatment.

One topical chemotherapy we offer is fluorouracil. It's available in a lotion form, and you apply it at home for three to six weeks. Another topical treatment is imiquimod, a lotion that causes immune cells to attack the abnormal tissue.

Reconstruction

Any form of surgery may leave a scar, and some scars are more noticeable than others. If removing a basal cell carcinoma leaves behind a wound that is too big to close with simple sutures (stitches), your surgeon may do reconstructive surgery, such as skin grafts and flaps. These techniques can help heal the skin and restore its appearance.

Follow-up Care

Even after successful treatment, some basal cell carcinomas can come back. Also, people who have had one skin cancer are at a higher than average risk for developing new skin cancers of all types.

If you've been treated for basal cell carcinoma, you should see your doctor immediately if you find a growth, bump, or spot or if you notice any changes in your skin that could mean the disease has returned. You must make sure to protect yourself from the sun as well. 

Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC or SqCC) is a form of skin cancer. Skin cancers fall into two groups, melanoma and non-melanoma; squamous cell carcinoma is a non-melanoma cancer. It is one of the most common cancers in humans and other animals.

Squamous cells are a type of epithelium cell forming the outermost layers of the skin and some organs in the body. Squamous cell carcinoma usually occurs on the skin, especially portions commonly exposed to the Sun, the face, ears, neck, hands, or arm. The main symptom is a growing bump that may have a rough, scaly surface and flat reddish patches. It may also occur inside the body wherever squamous cells are found, including the esophagus, urinary bladder, prostate, lung, vagina, and cervix, among others.

Despite the common name, squamous cell carcinomas arising in different body sites can show tremendous differences in their presenting signs and symptoms, natural history, prognosis, and response to treatment.

Though the use of these terms has been decreasing in the literature, SqCC is still sometimes referred to as "epidermoid carcinoma" and "squamous cell epithelium". During its earliest stages, it is sometimes known as "Bowen's disease".

3M Agrees To $10.3B Settlement Over Claims It Polluted Drinking Water With 'forever Chemicals'

3M announced Thursday it has agreed to pay $10.3 billion in settlements in response to allegations in polluted water in towns and cities across the United States with toxic chemicals.

The company, which makes several consumer products, including Command strips, Scotch tape and Ace bandages, said the settlement would be paid over the course of 13 years after public water suppliers detected PFAS in drinking water.

PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are man-made chemicals that were first used in manufacturing in the 1940s, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

MORE: How PFAS are entering America's water supply

These chemicals are omnipresent and can be found in several everyday items such as personal care products, food packaging, cleaning supplies and nonstick cookware, according to the agency.

PFAS can be found in soil, water and air and -- because of their widespread use -- are often found in the blood of people and animals, such as fish, the EPA said.

Maplewood, Minnesota, 3M company global headquarters. 3M produces the N95 respirator masks for the coronavirus.

Education Images/Universal Image/Getty Images

People can be exposed to PFAS by breathing in, eating, drinking or ingesting the chemicals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They can remain in the body for days or months and can potentially lead to increased cholesterol, liver damage, birth defects and a higher risk of kidney or testicular cancer, the CDC said.

Earlier this year, the EPA proposed the first-ever national standards on levels of PFAS found in drinking water to levels so low they cannot easily be detected.

3M has been the defendant in thousands of lawsuits over the past several years over claims it knew PFAS in its products could cause health issues, but continued to manufacture them anyway, resulting in a contaminated water supply.

The company said the settlement is not an admission of liability and that if the court does not approve the settlement agreement, it will defend itself in ongoing litigation.

"This is an important step forward for 3M, which builds on our actions that include our announced exit of PFOA and PFOS manufacturing more than 20 years ago, our more recent investments in state-of-the-art water filtration technology in our chemical manufacturing operations, and our announcement that we will exit all PFAS manufacturing by the end of 2025," 3M chairman and CEO Mike Roman said in a statement.

MORE: 'Ticking time bomb': PFAS chemicals in drinking water alarm scientists over health risks

In December 2022, 3M said it would stop manufacturing products with PFAS by the end of 2025.

3M's settlement comes just a few weeks after three companies, Chemours, Corteva and DuPont, agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle claims that they also allegedly tainted drinking water with PFAS.

In the press release announcing that settlement agreement the companies said if the settlement is not approved, they "will continue to assert their strong legal defenses...Deny the allegations in the underlying litigation and reserve all legal and factual defenses."

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