The prevailing narrative around skin cancer is that it is primarily caused by prolonged exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. And that, because of this, it is a condition that begins in the outermost layer of skin (the epidermis) and gradually invades deeper tissues. The standard model is that skin cancer presents as a visible lesion, irregular-shaped mole, or other suspicious marking.
But what if this model is incomplete? My own experience with skin cancer between 2014 and 2016 suggests there might be more to understand about how it behaves and how it manifests.
It all began in early 2014, when one evening I felt the onset of a stinging sensation on an area next to my nose ridge. The stinging started very subtly and got worse as the night went on. There was no sign of any lesion or raised area.
Fortunately, a year previously I had had the insight to buy a “black salve” product, having read at the time that black salve had a good track record of removing skin cancers. I was aware there was controversy surrounding black salves due to their competing with traditional skin cancer treatments, but I’ve never been one to stand on formality when it comes to my health. So I bought some, just in case I ever needed to use it.
I applied the black salve to the affected area, covered it with a plaster (band-aid) and left it on for 24 hours, as per the usage instructions. Within minutes, the stinging became much worse and the pain intensified. This lasted for about two hours, even after taking an over-the-counter painkiller.
After 24 hours, I removed the plaster and saw that the area had formed into a yellow-greenish patch. This didn’t surprise me—I had expected it. Eventually, the patch turned into an eschar (a dry, black scab-like mass) and fell off within a few days, leaving behind a cavity about the width of a little fingernail. It had gone deeper than the epidermis, reaching into the dermis or even beyond. Within a few days, the cavity closed, leaving no indication that it had even been there.
Notably, there was no reaction in the surrounding normal skin—only in the area that had been stinging. This dispels the myth that black salve destroys healthy skin.
What this suggests is that some skin cancers might grow from the bottom up, not the top down. While all skin cancers technically originate in the cells of the epidermis, they could (I argue) migrate downward early, making them harder to detect from the surface. This could be relevant in cases where there are no visible surface signs of skin cancer.
The epidermis, being devoid of nerves, wouldn’t register pain or stinging. But the dermis is full of nerve endings. So, if the cancer has invaded that layer, it might manifest not as a visible lesion, but as an internal discomfort—in my case, stinging—rather than a visual cue.
The implications are significant. If skin cancer can develop beneath apparently healthy skin, then traditional detection methods based on visual inspection might miss early-stage or deep-growing cancers. It also explains why some cancers, even after appearing to be removed from the surface, return in the same spot: they weren’t fully eradicated below.
Skin cancer might still *start* in the epidermis by textbook definition. But that doesn’t mean it stays there long. It could travel downward quickly, without leaving a surface trace.
