POSTED UNDER Mohs Surgery REVIEWS
No Scar Answer to my Skin Cancer
ORIGINAL POST
During my visit to the dermatologist I pointed out...
WORTH IT$1,000
during my visit to the dermatologist I pointed out a red spot on my nose that seemed to scab over easily, but never quite heal. The derm told me it was a squamous cell carcinoma, the kind caused by sun damage. While squamous cell cancer won't usually kill you, if left untreated it does spread, and it can create big ugly areas.
It could have eaten away my entire nose. I saw some photos of that. I decided it was best to have it removed when it was new and small.
I went to a skin cancer specialist in Moh's surgery. Moh's surgery is a subspecialty of dermatology, and not everyone does it. But I wanted it, because the alternative was to be disfigured.
My skin lesion was on my nose, so I didn't want somebody cutting a big piece off it. Mohs sounded like the perfect solution, because it's done with local anaesthesia, and the surgeon removes the skin layer by layer, or slice by slice, sending each slice to be biopsied while you are still in the office and numbed. You stay until a layer comes back clean. So they only take off exactly what's necessary to "get' the cancer. It's a cure about 98% of the time.
And then you are sent to a cosmetic surgeon. In my case, because this was on the bridge of my nose, they had to do a skin graft (they can't just sew up that area, because there's hardly any extra skin.). So they took some skin from my shoulder and grafted it on to my nose. They held it in place with a cotton ball that they sewed into the nose as well. Several days later, they removed the graft.
You can hardly tell it is there. There's no hole in my nose, and no real scar. This surgery is WORTH IT. I will look for some photos I took during the procedure, and if I find them, I'll post them.
Replies (47)
I agree. My Moh's surgeon was highly recommended by my dermatologist. They both said I wouldn't need a plastic surgeon. The nasty scar I have says they were wrong. Always get a plastic surgeon.
I too have just had a Moh's procedure and was not advised that he would have to cut down my face because there was not enough skin to pull over. He never looked carefully at my face when I went for his expensive first consultation and only after he had got the cancer out and I was put back on the table did he draw a big back to front tick on my face and say he was going to have to make a flap, what could I do, he wasn't asking my permission he was just telling me what he had to do. I came away from there utterly shocked. The days after the op I was in severe pain which I presumed was the normal thing, but I couldn't stand it any longer and went to the Emergency Department who admitted me straight away. I was on 3 days of IV antibiotics and all the staff at the hospital were shocked and all asking me who did this and this was even on a plastics ward where they are used to seeing bad things. I have to go to the Plastic Surgeons clinic to have the stitches removed as they could not do them in the Hospital as they are so tight in the area where the skin cancer was Oh ! and did I say that the Plastic's surgeon at the hospital has said she thinks the skin has died in the area where the skin cancer was removed. So if he had done a graft I would not have this huge scar on my face. BEWARE, BEWARE, BEWARE is all I can say to people.
If you have anything done on your face get a plastic surgeon.