From the first moment my wife discovered
she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even
ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have
received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than
mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started
this blog…That was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for
answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The
following entry appeared November of 2013.
“Where’d this come
from?”
Well, see, my
brother, sister, and sister-in-law were all diagnosed with skin cancer and
successfully treated. As well, an old friend and teaching colleague of mine was
recently diagnosed and treated for skin cancer. (The worst part there was that
he’d posted a picture of the excision on Facebook and many (if not all) of US
teased him about bonking his head, etc. Thoroughly stung when he later
announced that it was a cancerous spot removed, I apologized both on his
timeline and to him in person. NOT that I “should have known”, even so...)
Lately, I’ve had
these dry, red patches on my face and while using lotion makes them fade, I have
(duh) been wondering if they were signs of skin cancer. That led – at least in
my mind – to wondering if there was any connection between breast cancer and
skin cancer.
Not surprisingly,
there is: “Since breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed non-cutaneous
(non-skin) cancer among women in the United States, it is not surprising that
many individuals with breast cancer will develop melanoma (the deadliest form
of skin cancer) and vice versa...recent studies exploring how often individual
patients develop both cancers suggest that it [is] more than just coincidence:
A recent study by Murphy, et al, for example, found that patients with either
breast cancer or melanoma were almost four times more likely to develop the
other malignancy than probability would lead researchers to expect. Specific
causes linking the diseases may be in play, and genetic or environmental
factors may also contribute. On the other hand, the association may at least
partly result from more rigorous detection – in other words, a detection bias.
This occurs when health care providers who carefully monitor cancer patients
detect a second cancer that might otherwise have been missed.”
Also: “Sometimes
cancer cells can start growing in the skin. This is not the same as having skin
cancer, melanoma, or cutaneous T cell lymphoma (a type of lymphoma that affects
the skin). The secondary cancer may start to grow on or near an operation scar
where the primary cancer was removed. Or sometimes secondary skin cancers can
grow in other parts of the body.
A secondary skin cancer looks like a pink or red raised lump (a bit like a
boil). Skin nodules can be treated. It is important to tell your doctor if you
think you have one, because if it is not treated, it may become ulcerated [has
a ‘cauliflower’ look to it; also, it can be weeping].”
So, it appears
that breast cancer CAN spread to the skin – yet it doesn’t seem to be a common
occurrence. I had a bit of trouble even finding places where the two kinds of
cancers were linked. That doesn’t make it comforting – just one less-likely
thing to worry about.
Resources: http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/melanoma/breast-cancer-melanoma-link,
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/grow/where-a-cancer-spreads
Image: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5527/10893068965_1d328e8f71_b.jpg
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