Bowen's disease picture

Bowen's disease is just another name for an early pre-invasive form of squamous cell skin cancer.  It is also called squamous cell carcinoma-in-situ.  Pre-invasive means that there are cancer cells there.  But they are confined to the outermost layer of skin, the epidermis.  This means that the disease is very unlikely to have spread to the lymph nodes.  But It does often spread along the skin surface.  If left untreated, the Bowen's disease can develop into an invasive cancer and spread into the lymphatic system .  It does take a long time for Bowen's disease to develop into an invasive cancer.  But the risk remains as long as the Bowen's has not been treated.