Skin Cancer on the Scalp

In an earlier post, you commented that Toppik can cause skin cancer. Did I read that wrong?

Yes, you read it wrong. Toppik can hide a skin cancer, because it is like a make-up that covers what it is put on. If the scalp is tan, then a tan Toppik would be used to cover the scalp, thereby hiding a skin abnormality like the skin cancer seen here:

I actually picked up this cancer by giving this man a hair wash in the office so I would get off the Toppik and get a good examination of this scalp. He had noticed this spot when his comb got caught on it. It often bleed, but he did not think much about it because he assumed it was from his comb. Wounds that do not heal like this must be examined by an expert to rule out a skin cancer. I found this tumor and was concerned that it was a malignant melanoma (see below), but after excision biopsy was done, it turned out (fortunately) to be a Basal Cell type. The excision alone should cure this particular cancer.

Skin cancers come in three varieties:

1. Basal cell cancers are the most common and they frequently ‘crater’ and elevate. These tumors are most often the result of direct sun damage and they rarely metastasize and they are slow growing. They will, however, locally invade the surrounding structures.
2. Squamous cell cancers are the second most frequent cancer and they will invade beyond the confines of the tumor, even spreading to other parts of the body. They can kill.
3. Malignant melanomas are skin cancers most dreaded by everyone. They often have a black, elevated surface with a spreading out of the tumor like an octopus or an amoeba. Once they invade below the very superficial surface component and break through into the lower structures of the skin (about 1-2 mm below the surface), they can and often spread through the body and they can be deadly.