Is skin cancer contagious in the elderly?

We have heard that people with skin diseases are contagious, but we have never heard that skin cancer is contagious. And itchy skin diseases are highly contagious. People with skin diseases can be seen everywhere in life, and in severe cases, they are similar to skin cancer. Therefore, we must strictly distinguish skin cancer from skin diseases. So, is skin cancer in the elderly contagious?

Is skin cancer contagious? The answer is definitely not.

In simple terms, infection is the transmission of a disease from one person to another through some means. Infection requires three conditions: a source of infection, a transmission route, and a susceptible population. Clinical data show that cancer patients themselves are not the source of infection.

To differentiate between precancerous skin diseases and skin cancer, we must first understand skin cancer, especially the clinical characteristics of early skin cancer.

Early skin cancer often manifests as erythematous or papular lesions that are slightly higher than the skin surface, often accompanied by scaly desquamation or crust formation on the surface. The symptoms are similar to benign skin diseases such as psoriasis, eczema, and inflammation. As the lesion develops further, some characteristic signs will appear, such as a shiny, translucent papular nodule with bleeding on the surface and telangiectasia. Or a scar-like fibrous plaque with a smooth surface, without obvious telangiectasia, ulcers, and protrusions. Or there are small black spots in the lesion that merge with each other.

The characteristics of skin cancer are very similar to the symptoms of some precancerous lesions such as solar keratosis and keratoacanthoma, making it difficult to distinguish them. Solar keratosis has rough erythema that is higher than the skin surface, and the surface is covered with scales. After removing the scales, the erythema often has no obvious protrusion. This is very similar to the erythema-like papules with clear boundaries and slightly higher than the skin surface of squamous cell carcinoma in situ, but the scales and crusts of the latter are more obvious, and the lesions are more substantial. Keratoacanthoma often occurs in exposed areas to sunlight. Without any warning signs, smooth red nodules will quickly appear within 2 to 3 weeks. There is a keratin embolus in the center, and dilated capillaries can be seen at the edge of the nodule. The nodules of squamous cell carcinoma that is distinguished from it are not smooth, and the edges of the nodules are translucent.

Because it is extremely difficult to distinguish between precancerous lesions and skin cancer, when you suspect a disease is skin cancer, it is best to do a pathological biopsy to confirm your judgment. Today, cancer is not listed as an infectious disease in the world, and no isolation measures are taken for admitted patients like infectious diseases. The medical staff of cancer hospitals are not more likely to develop cancer than the general population. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the question of whether skin cancer is contagious. Generally, it is not contagious, and we can take care of those skin cancer patients with confidence.