Dr. Ibrahim performed Mohs surgery on me yesterday to remove a basal cell carcinoma from my forehead. I was impressed not only by Dr. Ibrahim, but also the nurses and other staff. They were all very friendly, yet professional. They made sure that I knew what was happening at all times. Dr. Ibrahim even called me later in the day to see how I was doing. Updated on 22 Aug 2018: The day after I had a basal cell carcinoma removed from my forehead, I had only a little bit of pain, and a slight bruising on my eyelid below the incision. The second day after MOHS, I woke up with a lot of dark bruising on the eye below the incision, and a small amount of bruising on the other eye. Updated on 23 Aug 2018: Minimal pain is easily managed with ibuprofen. The eye under the incision still has a very dark bruise. The bruising on the other eye has expanded to below the eye. My forehead over the incision is numb. Updated on 24 Aug 2018: There is still some minimal pain which is easily managed by ibuprofen. The steri-strips are starting to come off (which was explained to me). The bruising around the eyes is still pretty significant and the area above the incision is still numb. Updated on 26 Aug 2018: Still very little pain, easily handled by ibuprofen. The bruising is still more pronounced around the eye beneath the incision, but the other eye has bruising too. I'm still cleaning the incision with hydrogen peroxide daily, and putting petroleum jelly on the incision afterward to keep it moist. Since I'm supposed to keep the incision uncovered, I've started wearing a visor above the incision and below my hairline to keep my hair out of the petroleum jelly. To ride my horse today (although the surgeon wanted me to wait 7 days post surgery), I put a large bandage over the incision, tied a bandana around my head covering the bandage, and put my helmet on over that. It worked great! Updated on 27 Aug 2018: It looks like the bruising on the eye under the incision is finally starting to fade. Pain is still negligible and easily handled with ibuprofen. Hopefully, makeup concealer will make the bruising less noticeable soon. Updated on 28 Aug 2018: I have almost no pain, but the area above the incision is still numb. I'll be asking the doctor about that during our follow-up appointment in 10 days. The bruising is fading daily. I'm still putting peroxide on the incision daily, followed by petroleum jelly. Updated on 30 Aug 2018: The incision has started to itch, which I take as a sign that it's healing. On day 8, I thought it was starting to look like parts of the incision were getting infected (red, puffy), so I put an antiseptic "liquid bandage" on it. After letting it dry, I covered it with petroleum jelly and a big bandage before going to bed. That was probably a bad idea. When I woke up the next morning, I thought it looked better, but then I had to peel the liquid bandage off of the incision, and THAT wasn't fun. Updated on 5 Sep 2018: The bruising is getting better every day. The scar is still pink and bumpy, but I'm hoping that improves as time goes by. The area above the incision is still numb, and I plan to talk to the doctor about that on my follow-up visit in 5 days. Updated on 5 Sep 2018: Pictures wouldn't upload for the prior update. Here they are: Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13 (The review won't post unless there is at least 200 characters, so I'm filling those up............................................................................ )
Two weeks after Radiesse injections, in my opinion, is sufficient to proceed with either nonablative or ablative laser resurfacing around the mouth. The injected product is deeper than the laser treatment will reach and you likely didn't have Radiesse in your top lip. Of course check with your doctor.
With deeper Halo treatments, we undoubtedly see some (not much) pinpoint bleeding and this is not of concern. This should not last beyond the first night after treatment and is quite minor. Interestingly, I've seen a slightly higher amount of pinpoint bleeding after 2nd or 3rd treatments.
The Halo has really changed the game for certain types for acne scarring. While deeper scars may still require a more aggressive, or ablative, treatment, many rolling types of scars are really responding quite well to Halo treatment.What makes Halo amazing is that it's performed with a topical numbing agent (not injected numbing medicine) and there is no bleeding involved. Other then some redness and swelling, there isn't much to it. The results I am seeing are quite impressive.
Although this is most likely your father's BCC recurring in the same location, a small biopsy is the only way to confirm this. Mohs surgery by a member of the American College of Mohs Surgery will be the best chance at clear margins with a durable cure. Radiation in this area may lead to adverse effects related to vision and increase his risk for more skin cancer down the road. In certain cases, with extensive eyelid involvement, Mohs surgery to remove the cancer followed by repair with an oculoplastic surgeon is performed.
