Skin cancer

Skin cancer is the most common cancer worldwide. Skin cancers most often arise from the epidermis (basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma), but cancer may arise from any structure in the skin, including from the melanocytes (melanoma), blood vessels (e.g. angiosarcoma), adnexal structures (e.g. malignant sweat gland tumours) and the connective tissue (e.g. dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans). The skin can also be the site of lymphoma and metastasis from internal cancers, including carcinoma of the breast, colon and lung. This contribution focuses on the most common skin cancers: melanoma and the ‘non-melanoma’ skin cancers (squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma), and briefly discusses infiltration of the skin with lymphoma.