Skin cancer is divided into stages according to how big the cancer is, how far it has spread, and other factors.
Basal Cell and Squamous Cell Skin Cancer Stages
One characteristic that determines the stages of basal cell and squamous cell skin cancer is whether the tumor has any “high-risk features.” These high-risk features include:
- The tumor is more than 2 millimeters thick
- The tumor has spread into the lower level of the skin or into the layer of fat below the skin
- The tumor has spread along nerve pathways
- The tumor began on an ear or a lip that has hair on it
- Under a microscope, the tumor’s cells look very different from normal cells
The stages of basal cell and squamous cell skin cancer are as follows:
- Stage 0: Abnormal cells have formed in the top layer of the skin. These cells are not cancer, but they may develop into cancer. This stage is also called carcinoma in situ.
- Stage I: The tumor consists of cancerous cells, but it is not wider than 2 centimeters at any point. The tumor may have one high-risk feature.
- Stage II: The tumor is wider than 2 centimeters at its widest point, or, it is of any size and has two or more high-risk features.
- Stage III: The cancer has spread, either to places such as the jaw, the eye socket, the side of the skull, or to one lymph node. The lymph node is not larger than 3 centimeters. The tumor may be smaller than 2 centimeters and have only one high risk feature, or it may be larger with no high risk features, or it may be of any size and have two or more high-risk features.
- Stage IV: The tumor is larger than in stage III, or it may have spread to more distant parts of the body or to larger lymph nodes.
Melanoma Stages
- Stage 0: Abnormal cells are found in the upper layer of skin. These cells are not cancerous, but they may turn into cancer. This stage is also called melanoma in situ.
- Stage I: The tumor is thin (it does not penetrate the skin very deeply). Tumors at this stage can be up to 2 millimeters thick without an ulcer (an opening or break in the skin), or they can be less than 1 millimeter thick but have an ulcer.
- Stage II: The tumor has become thicker and may or may not have an ulcer. Tumors at this stage range from more than 1 millimeter to more than 4 millimeter thick.
- Stage III: The tumor is any thickness and may or may not have an ulcer. In addition, one or more of the following conditions are present:
- The tumor has spread to one or more lymph nodes
- The lymph nodes are joined together
- Cancer is in a lymph vessel between the main tumor and nearby lymph nodes
- Small tumors are under the skin not far away from where the cancer first began
- Stage IV: Cancer has spread to distant places in the body, such as the brain, the lungs, the liver, or to skin far away from where the cancer first started.
Learn more about skin cancer:
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