Latest Mohs Surgery

basal cell after biopsy

As I posted previously, the biopsy taken on the spot on my left temple back in July came back positive as a basal cell carcinoma. The Mohs surgery could not be scheduled until September 25th. The specialist who performed my previous Mohs procedures is no longer with my dermatology practice, so this was my first experience with their new surgeon. He is fine, but I really liked the gal they had before. 

The surgery was scheduled for 8:45, but the doctor was late and didn't even get to the office until 9:10. Not a great first impression. He took the first cut around 9:30, and I was bandaged up and sent to a small waiting area with all the other walking wounded. Everyone else had bandages on their noses, so it must have been Mohs Nose Day or something. It was an hour before they took me back and said they did not have a clean margin on the piece removed. The surgeon said while the basal cell was not deep, there were still some cells along one of the sides that needed to come out. By the time he got done with me, the small waiting area was full, so I had to go out to the main waiting room.

A gal came out to get me a little after 12:00, and since she took me to a different area of the clinic I assumed they had gotten a clean margin on the second try. That assumption proved correct, as I was led back to the plastic surgeon's procedure room. I have had this plastic surgeon for wound closure every time they have done Mohs on me, so I'm very comfortable with him. He stitched me up, gave me my followup instructions, and the gal put a covering on the site. They are aware that I am allergic to every known adhesive on bandages and tape, so she put on a gauze pad and attached it with paper tape.  

This is my 22nd skin cancer removal, not all of them by Mohs of course. But this one has been pretty painful. When I removed the gauze pad after 24 hours as instructed, I was stunned to see how large the cut was. No wonder it hurts! For the first three days I alternated taking Tylenol and ibuprofen every four hours during the day. By the fourth day I was only taking them every six or seven hours.

Mohs surgery

Hopefully this wound will not get infected like the last two ED&C removals have done. I go in this morning to get the stitches out, and I am praying that the skin smooths out after that since the bottom third of the wound looks really rough.