The commonest type of skin cancer is called a rodent ulcer or basal cell carcinoma (BCC).

BCCs usually appear on the skin of the face as small raised red lumps. They grow very slowly and may form into small ulcers or develop a crust on their surface. Although they are cancers they are usually very curable because they grow so slowly and very rarely spread anywhere else.

The usual treatment for BCCs is either a small operation to remove the growth or a short course of radiotherapy (often a single radiotherapy treatment is enough for a cure).

Doctors have looked at using creams as an alternative form of treatment. Up to now the most successful of these has used a chemotherapy (cytotoxic) drug, called 5-fluorouracil, in the form of a cream, but this is not as effective as surgery or radiotherapy and is not very often used.

Recently there have been some clinical trials in America looking at the use of a cream called imiquimod (or Aldara). This preparation has been available for some time but has been used to treat genital or anal warts rather than cancer.

The recent studies suggest that putting imiquimod cream on a BCC once a day for up to 8 weeks can get rid of 9 out of 10 BCCs. The only side effect seems to be that sometimes the skin that is treated gets rather sore and inflamed. More studies to confirm these early results are in progress at the present time.

The treatment is only suitable for thin BCCs (superficial basal cell carcinomas) where the cream can penetrate fully into the growth. This means that even if further tests and trials prove that it is an effective treatment it will not be suitable for everybody who develops a BCC.

Another newer treatment that may be available is called photodynamic therapy. This involves using light sensitive drugs and lasers to remove the affected area, which can be very successful and leave little scarring.