If you have a condition called xeroderma pigmentosum, you're more likely to get squamous cell skin cancer. This is because if you have this condition, your cells can't fix the damage caused by the sun, so you're more likely to get skin cancer at an early age.

Xeroderma pigmentosum is something you're born with. It's passed to you in the

 

 

 

 

 

genes
Your genes are the parts of your cells that contain instructions for how your body works. Genes are housed on chromosomes, structures that sit in the nucleus at the middle of each of your cells. You have 23 pairs of chromosomes in your normal cells, each of which has thousands of genes. You get one set of chromosomes, and all of the genes that are on them, from each of your parents.

 

 

 

 

 

genes from your parents.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Bruce AJ, Brodland DG.
Overview of skin cancer detection and prevention for the primary care physician.
Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2000; 75: 491-500.

 

 

 

 

 

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