The treatment was developed by a British doctor based in Manchester.

It can be used to treat all non life-threatening skin cancers, which account for 95% of the 40,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the UK.

Its inventor said that it is at least as effective as conventional treatments, but is quicker, cheaper, less painful and easier to use.

Eventually it could treat the disease in GP surgeries, its inventor said.

Widespread cancer

Skin cancer is the most widespread of all cancers and the number of sufferers is increasing at the fastest rate.

It has three forms - two that can be treated easily and are unlikely to be fatal, and a third, malignant melanoma, that is rarer but much more aggressive.

Dr Colin Whitehurst, of the Christie Hospital Manchester, developed the photodynamic therapy lamp to treat the less harmful types - basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas.

"It has been put through various tests at Christie's and the treatment has now been developed into quite a fine art," he said.

"We are one of the main treatment centres for skin cancer patients in the country and where traditionally we would use radiotherapy or chemotherapy now we treat them with photodynamic therapy (PDT).

"It is a unique and remarkable step forward and has been extremely successful."

Early patient

Irene Tomlinson, 54, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, was one of the first patients to undergo the treatment.

The treatment was developed at Christie Hospital in Manchester

She developed lesions in the early 1980s. They spread across the body and were worst on her hands, lower legs and feet.

She said she was left with disabling pain that forced her to give up her job, holidays and social life.

"I was seen by dermatologists for years without much effect and then they tried to burn off the lesions with lasers," she said.

"When that didn't work I really despaired because I thought it was my last hope, but then early in 1997 someone told me about this therapy being developed at Christie's."

Ms Tomlinson has had four sessions at the hospital.

She now has some normal skin growth on her lower leg and a painful 6mm growth on her little finger has been reduced to nothing.

"It's made me far more optimistic now that there is something that can be done - it's a light at the end of the tunnel," she said.

Cream application

A light sensitive cream is applied to the affected patches of skin several hours before the lamps are used.

The cream contains a naturally occurring chemical called 5-ALA, or aminolaevulinic. Normally the body converts this to a substance called protoporphyrin and filters it out of the system.

However, when light from the PDT lamp, similar to a laser beam, is shone on the treated area the protoporphyrin kills off cancerous cells.

Although healthy cells also die, they regenerate quickly, Dr Whitehurst said.

"With traditional treatments the skin tissue would scar over, but this is a natural treatment.

"The body does not try to protect itself by scarring. It forms a crust and under that it gets to work, rebuilding the skin until it's as good as new.

"With some patients who've come back for check-ups we've had to refer to photos to check where the cancerous areas of skin were."

Simple process

Patients undergoing the treatment require no injections or surgery, need far fewer sessions to achieve results and can attend as day patients.

The cost per patient is lower. The cream costs around �10 and the lamps from �8,000 to �10,000. Lasers used in conventional treatment cost up to �150,000 each.

Dr Whitehurst said that these two factors could revolutionise treatment.