Hello all,
I just went today to a General Surgeon who took a biopsy of an
unusual spot just above my knee. I saw a GP last week who sent me to him. Nice older man, very wise, said he thought it may be
a basil cell, but did a biopsy and will let me know next week.
I asked him about radiation or anything and he said he would
remove it with a local if it came back bad and that would be it!

He said he had one in the same place and he removed it himself
years ago and that was all he did.

I will go to my Ent in a couple of weeks, but he stays in his
specialty and won't comment on dentists, etc.

Has anyone had a skin cancer removed? If so, did you have
any treatments afterward? I so hope it is not, but I just
am unsure if this Surgeon is telling me everything?
Thanks all who listen,
Debbie

I have had several skin cancers removed over the years, due to 25 years of competitive swimming and water polo in an era when Coppertone was the style, and nobody had ever heard of SPF.

Most of mine were basal cell that were removed from my upper chest and back by my Internist. I used to joke that he was dismembering me 1 cm at a time. Had 2 SCC removed as well, the latest one popping up just after radiation completed. It was a keratoacanthoma that was square in the middle of my upper chest at the collarbone level, right in the middle of the extended radiation field. These are ugly little critters that grow fast, but are generally considered low grade. I had a dermatological surgeon remove that one. Clean margins, no follow up treatment.

For most skin cancers short of melanoma, removal is the sole treatment. Like others, they can recur, but can also be removed then. Except for melanoma, metastasis is very rare, usually only in cases that have been allowed to progress to significantly sized lesions.

So your doc is not steering you wrong.

i concur with jeff. know many with skin cancer removals and all have told me no further treatment was involved.

My Father had skin cancer on his cheek. It was very small, about the size of a pin head. The Doctors removed it and had it biopsied. He had to go back three other times until the Doctor was satisfied with the margins...no other treatments...no other problems. It was about 7 years ago.

Thanks you guys! I was told this am that it came back a basel
cell and removal was all that was needed! I had nightmares again about radiation and all that stuff we have all been through on
here!
My husband laughed at me with relief because I said this was the
easiest cancer I have ever had!!! What a warped sense of humor
I have these days. Just glad to be alive.
THanks again!
Debbie

Glad it all turned out, Debbie!!!

All that worrying for nothing. LOL.. Not laughing at you , thinking how many of us want to run and hide until we get the results back fron the DRs. It all takes time and comes out in the wash.

You are right Jim, but some of us will never change.
I still don't like it but compared to what we have been
through - I feel like I dodged a bullet!
I like it that we can laugh!!
Debbie

Debbie, I feel like maybe a machine gun going off. That was a lot of bullets whizzing by our heads. Without laughter, you are right. We would have nothing but self pity. Have a good Sunday.