Should Older People Seek Treatment for Skin Growths?

QUESTION: My dad, who is seventy-five, has a number of skin growths. Should
he just leave them be, because of his advanced age, or should be seek some
medical treatment?
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ANSWER: Well, a dermatologist friend of mine believes it's never too late to
treat skin growths. In older people, she thinks it's very important from an
emotional standpoint. Some growths are badges of age, which she feels people
don't always wear proudly. So, by all means take your dad to a doctor. The
typical growths found in the elderly are small, discolored skin tags in which
malignant transformation is rare and treatment is relatively simple. Removal
is usually accomplished through scraping, freezing, or acid treatments. Liver
spots, another type of skin growth, frequently go untreated and are waved off
as a sign of aging. But there is no need for this, since they are simple to
treat and respond to bleaching or liquid nitrogen peels. Now the more serious
growths are cancers and must be treated. Basal cell carcinoma, found most
often on the head, neck, or upper trunk, is a slowly advancing cancer which is
easy to remove through cryosurgery. Squamous cell carcinoma developing as a
solitary nodule sometimes necessitates deeper procedures as does malignant
melanoma. Let your father be treated for these growths, either for his ego or
his life.