Sometimes a skin cancer could be quite subtle in appearance. The reddish flat mark on this patient’s upper lip (near the centre of the photograph) is a skin cancer. It is a basal cell carcinoma (BCC). (click on the image to see a much larger version)
This spot would have been slowly enlarging over 6-12 months. The growth of BCC could be very slow and therefore is often ignored until it has grown considerably.
Too often, due to the fact that skin cancer, at its early stage, does not cause any problem (such as pain or bleeding), a BCC is often left unnoticed for months to even years before being treated. It is therefore very important to have any spot that has been changing checked. More later…