Sarah Tuttleton Arron, MD

About 4 weeks ago I went to the dermatologist for a overall body check. I also wanted to talk about a very small white bump on my nose that I'd had for a long time . I was tired of dealing with it and the occasional bleeding. My dermatologist took a loo at the bump on my nose felt it needed to be biopsied. He also took a biopsy of a bump on my leg behind my knee. When the results came back, the spot on my leg was fine, but the bump on my nose was basal cell carcinoma. I was shocked because I'd had it looked at by a dermatologist 8 years previously. She did not say a word about skin cancer, did not biopsy it, or caution me to keep an eye on it. I had the Moh's surgery 2 weeks later and I was terrified because i'd had this bump for 8 years and was worries about how deep it might be. My Moh's procedure required 3 layers, and fortunately for me, the incision was shallow and required only 4 sitches in a straight line down my nose. The first night I had quite a bit of pain and I could have used something stronger than Tyelonol. But the second day the pain started to ease and by day 6, I did not need any Tyelenol at all. I was able to remove the pressure bandage after 24 hours and take a shower. I had steri-strips covering the stitches so I did not have to do anything other than pat them dry after getting them wet in the shower. I had some swelling on my nose and bruising under my eyes, but nothing excessive. There was some minor seepage of blood and fluid for the first few days and a fair amount of itching on days 3 - 5, but that eased up by day 6. Today is day 8 and I had the stitches out. It looks pretty good. I got fresh steri-strips and can remove them in one week. At that point, I can return to wearing make up, applying face cream etc. Although I've worn sunblock daily for the past 8 years, I will be even more vigilant now about wearing a hat, reapplying sunblock and getting a body check every 6 months. Updated on 29 Dec 2017: My scar is barely visible. I'm very pleased with these results.