Yesterday, I had Moh's surgery on my left cheek. (No. On my face). About a month ago, my dermatologist had taken a biopsy on a really small spot on my face. The result was almost all squamous cell cancer was removed by the biopsy, but some remained, and a dermatologist that specializes in Moh's surgery was needed. The surgeon, who I can only describe as one of the best, performed the same procedure five years ago on a basil cell spot on the top of my head. Like the first one, only a local anesthetic was applied, and I was awake during the entire procedure.
The procedure, for those that don't know, involves the surgeon removing some of the tissue, taking about an hour to examine the cells, and removing more if necessary. When all excised is shown clear, the wound is closed and stitched. It's simple in some ways, but in others, the tissue removed may require the expertise of a surgeon that understands how wounds heal, and how they can leave unsightly scars.
The surgery went well, my wife took photos for my perusal, and I was a little surprised at what the photos revealed. Due to the size of the wound, the doctor had to extend the incision, remove some tissue, and place many stitches to leave a wound that wouldn't have an unsightly pucker. This means I will have a scar from the just below my eye to my jaw. It will look like I was in a knife fight, or a really bad accident.
Hopefully this will end the surgeries. I still have some pre-cancers, which can be treated with Florouracil. It's not pleasant to use, since the medication has a harsh chemotherapy medication that destroys the cancer cells and leaves what looks like severe rashes until the areas heal. That, and it burns like the dickens during the last two weeks of treatment.
So, protect from the ionizing radiation from the sun, warn family members of the foolishness of not protecting from the sun, and realize a sunburn when very young can lead to things much worse than not having a good tan.
