Stages of Skin Cancer
Its severity determines the stage of skin cancer. The doctor examines how large the tumor is or has it spread through lymph nodes and is spreading on other parts of the body. Skin cancer is divided into two groups for staging them.
The groups include the nonmelanoma group and melanoma group. Basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma are part of the nonmelanoma group.
Stage 0 – This is the first stage of skin cancer, and the cells have no spread beyond the epidermis, which is the outer layer of the skin.
Stage 1- This stage is characterized by the spreading of cancer cells to the next layer of the skin, i.e., the dermis, but the depth is not more than two centimeters.
Stage 2 – In this stage, the cancer cells are larger than 2 centimeters, but they have not spread to nearby lymph nodes by now.
Stage 3 – Cancer has started to spread from the primary tumor to other bone and tissues and larger than 3 centimeters.
Stage 4 – This is a more dangerous stage of cancer. It tells that cancer has spread beyond the tumor sites to the bones, tissues, and lymph nodes. The tumors are greater than 3 centimeters.