Bowen's Disease

Dr Rajesh Shah

What is Bowen's disease?

Bowen's disease is a form of cancer, which was found by Dr John Bowen. It is a type of Squamous Cell cancer of skin. What causes Bowen's disease? This cancerous disease may be caused by damage to skin due to exposure to sunlight, some chemicals such as Arsenic, and contact with some virus such as HPV (Human papillomavirus), or due to compromised immune system due to any major disease such as HIV infection.

What are the symptoms of Bowen's disease?

Bowen's disease can affect males and females, more after the age of 60 years; but could occur anytime. It can affect any part of skin, depending on exposure, more commonly affecting palms and soles, genitals, legs and hands. The symptoms include slow growth of crust formation in irregular shape, with scaling, red rash

Treatment for Bowen's disease

A. Conventional treatment:

Freezing (cryotherapy), photodynamic therapy and use of chemotherapeutic agents form primary line of treatment for Bowen's disease. Results are excellent in early stage as the disease appears superficial, and not invading the deeper tissues.

B. Homeopathic treatment

We have no adequate experience with the treatment of Bowen's diseases. It falls under the category of cancerous growth, so the homeopathic approach remains similar to the management of cancer. At Life Force, we have recorded one case of Bowen's disease in 2010, which we had sent for surgical treatment. We do not recommend homeopathy for Bowen's disease.