If you have been diagnosed with basal cell skin cancer, or think you have it, please call: 734-936-4068. 

Healthcare professionals, please contact our M-LINE service: 800-962-3555.

Basal cell carcinoma usually affects the face, head, and trunk of the body. The nose is the most common site. Signs of basal cell carcinoma can include skin changes such as a:

• Firm, pearly bump with tiny blood vessels that look spidery (telangiectasias).
• Red, tender, flat spot that bleeds easily.
• Small, fleshy bump with a smooth, pearly appearance, often with a lower area in the center.
• Bump that can be darker than the rest of your skin. This is more common in people with darker skin.
• Smooth, shiny bump that may look like a mole or cyst.
• Patch of skin, especially on the face, that looks like a scar and is firm to the touch.
• Bump or sore that itches, bleeds, crusts over, and then repeats the cycle and has not healed in a few weeks.
• Change in the size, shape, or color of a mole or a skin growth.

If your skin cancer is biopsy-confirmed, your dermatologist will recommend the treatment options best suited to your skin cancer type based on the location, size, and features noted on the biopsy specimen. Most skin cancer treatment is done on an outpatient basis, typically by one of the following three methods:

• Mohs micrographic surgery: For many non-melanoma skin cancers, such as basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, the preferred treatment option is Mohs surgery. In this precise procedure, a small disc of tissue is removed around the skin cancer and prepared for immediate microscopic evaluation. The Mohs surgeon checks all of the edges of what was removed for cancer cells, while the patient waits. Once the edges are cancer-free, the wound is repaired. The goal of Mohs surgery is to provide a high cure rate and to remove the cancer while leaving as much normal, healthy skin behind as possible.
• Wide-local excision: The doctor excises (surgically removes) the entire skin cancer together with a safe border of surrounding normal skin.
• Electrodessication and Curettage (ED&C): For superficial non-melanoma skin cancers, ED&C provides high cure rates with minimal scarring. Because cancer cells scrape away more easily than normal tissue, a trained dermatologist can scrape away the cancerous cells using a tool called a curette and leave only normal skin behind.