Treatment options for skin cancer vary depending on the type, stage, and location of the cancer, as well as your overall health.
The Lefcourt Family Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center takes a team approach. Our disease-specific teams include doctors and other healthcare professionals from a variety of disciplines with experience treating your cancer. Together, these experts meet regularly to discuss your health, review test results, offer recommendations, and create an individualized plan of treatment designed to meet your needs.
Your treatment team may include:
- Dermatologists and dermatologic surgeons, who specialize in diagnosing and treating skin cancer and other skin conditions.
- Medical oncologists, who manage skin cancer treatment using anti-cancer medications.
- Radiation oncologists, who plan and provide targeted radiation therapy.
Surgery and Minimally Invasive Therapies for Skin Cancer
Patients with superficial or localized skin cancers that are small, well defined, or located in areas where precision is crucial, such as the face or hands, may have surgery or other minimally invasive therapies. Common treatments include:
- Surgical excision: Removing the cancerous tissue along with a margin of healthy skin.
- Mohs micrographic surgery: A precise technique that involves removing cancerous skin, layer by layer, and examining each layer to ensure complete removal of cancerous cells while preserving as much healthy tissue as possible.
- Cryotherapy (cryosurgery): Applying liquid nitrogen to freeze and destroy cancerous cells, which is typically used for small, non-melanoma skin cancers, precancerous lesions, or benign growths—particularly when they are on the surface of the skin.
- Electrosurgery: Using an electric current to burn cancerous cells. This method is often used to treat small, superficial skin cancers when precise removal or destruction is needed.
Medical Treatments for Skin Cancer
Our Infusion Center, located on the Englewood Hospital campus, offers a comfortable and convenient experience for patients returning often for therapy. We also offer medical skin cancer treatments at our Jersey City and Fair Lawn locations, including:
- Topical chemotherapy: Chemotherapy creams are applied directly to the skin to treat superficial skin cancers (such as basal cell carcinoma) or precancerous conditions (such as actinic keratosis).
- Systemic chemotherapy: Anti-cancer drugs are taken orally or given through intravenous infusion to treat more advanced or metastatic skin cancers, such as melanoma.
- Targeted therapy: These drugs specifically target genetic mutations or proteins involved in the growth of cancer cells and are often used for advanced melanoma.
- Immunotherapy: Drugs that boost the body's immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells have transformed the care of people with advanced melanoma or other aggressive skin cancers.
- Photodynamic therapy: A photosensitizing agent is activated by light to destroy cancer cells. This treatment is typically used for superficial skin cancers and precancerous lesions.
Radiation Therapy for Melanoma
Some people with melanoma receive radiation therapy after surgery to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence, boost the effectiveness of immunotherapy or other medications, or relieve symptoms. It may also be used to treat other types of skin cancer that cannot be treated with other methods, such as surgery.
Another type of radiation therapy—electronic skin surface brachytherapy—is applied to the skin using small disks left in place for a few minutes to treat squamous cell carcinomas that are not too deep.
Englewood Health’s radiation oncology team offers therapy that spares healthy tissue, using state-of-the-art equipment at the Coe Radiation Oncology Center at our main Englewood Hospital campus.
Geriatric Oncology for Skin Cancer
At Englewood Health, we offer specialized care for older adults diagnosed with skin cancer. Our team focuses on the unique needs of elderly patients, tailoring treatment plans to address both the cancer and any age-related health concerns. With a comprehensive approach that balances effective cancer treatment and maintaining quality of life, we provide personalized care that takes into account the patient's overall well-being and treatment tolerability.
Clinical Trials
Our oncologists participate in many clinical trials evaluating promising new treatment options for skin cancer. A clinical trial may give you access to a cutting-edge therapy that is not yet available as a standard treatment. Your care team will let you know if you may be eligible for any clinical trials. The decision to participate is entirely yours.
Survivorship Services
After completing multidisciplinary therapy, patients are guided through a comprehensive survivorship meeting. This meeting provides an opportunity to review the treatments received and establish a personalized plan for ongoing surveillance and follow-up care. Our team will assess your current health status, discuss strategies for monitoring your recovery, and help ensure you have the necessary support for long-term well-being following skin cancer treatment.