Hi there~

My co-worker is having this procedure tomorrow and she is apprehensive (understandably) She is have the BCC removed from her forehead and she is wondering how long will she be out of work?

What are your experieces???

Thank you!!!

I have had Mohs twice on my eye brow. The first experience was much worse then the 2nd. I was sick-nauseous for 2 days after the surgery and needed at least 4 days to feel normal. My eye also turned black for about a week. The 2nd time I had Mohs (same spot) I rested for 2 days on the couch. I was not nauseous at all but didn't feel like doing much activity. Took me about three days to feel mobile again. I also had a black eye for about a week. She should feel better by Monday but will still need to take it easy (bending over etc). This was my experience.

Thank you very much. =)

I had MOHS done on my nose. They took me in four times cutting until they removed all of the BC. I was never nauseated. I could have gone back to work the next day or even that afternoon, except that I had this huge golf ball sized bandage with gauze stuck on the side of my nose.

I'm confused. I thought MOHS was a procedure that keeps cutting till all BC is gone &
clear margins. I'm reading that people had it done again later in the same spot? I have
a dime-sz spot on my forhead. Had to put it off few yrs. due to other surgery. 1 Derm.
said cut & let fill in. (Will have big white-rnd scar). Another Derm. said need to cut &
then go out-pt. next a.m. for a plastic surgeon to close by flap or graft. Another said
surgeons procedure will also lea. wider scar from a flap stitching. Why spend the $ to
a plastic-surgeon to soften the worst appearance if it's back later? Is Mohs just a
better shot of getting most BC & cross fingers? And if they can laser off wrinkles, why
don't they have a zapper for skin-cancers? We'd go more often for cks. if we didn't
hate the outcome. I've had 5 removed & last was done by a plastic surgeon on upper
arm. It was 1/4". I have a 3" long-wide scar now. Not `micro-stitch'! Yea Make-up!
Ea. time I went to work next day. I think some folks have a reaction of stress & to
meds afterward. Also, sweets alter insulin & increase inflammation making things hurt.
Avoid processed sugar food 1-2 days. Meanwhile, talk to me abt Mohs please?

nauseated from MOHS surgery? What causes the nausea? I thought they basically go in there and cut out the offending tissue. Is there a big nasty scar afterwards?

Not sure why I was so sick. I think all the numbing solution injected as well as the black eye. I never did ask the dr about it but I was pretty sick for a good day or two. Anyone else know why this would have happened?

As for Mohs and reaccurance, I cant answer that either. The first basal cell I had removed was just a plain tumor. The 2nd basal cell was morpheaform type which is different. More difficult to remove. I am pretty sure it is back again so I will get it biopsied in 2 weeks. This would make 3 Mohs procedures in the same area. I am not happy about it!! If there is a better way to get rid of these on your face with less scarring I would be thrilled to hear about it!!

Chig, Mohs is a `mapping' technique not a closier. Cut BC slightly farther out than
visual. Put on a #slide then # ea. tissue diced off it. While you wait, ea. #tissue is
individually mixed w/ special dye that clings to invisible B-cells & ck'd microscopic.
If color shows BC, they go to that # area & cut out farther & repeat process. Scar
depends on BC-sz, your tissue, area, depth, Dr. skill. Always research by contacting
the St-Brd. re: Dr.'s education & if any charges on file. I went to a plastic surgeon
w/ great files! Guess his mind was on his ski-trip. Next day I had no back-up MD. Ofc.
was closed & had to go elsewhere for infection/bleeding. He ret'd 2 wks. later. To
hear my anger. So not even `great' means that, but what do we do? Always ask alot
of questions. Some aren't certified in Mohs & don't do the process correct. Maybe
that's why I read some BC's returned? Mohs should be total cell removal. I had 1 done
`reg. excise' & 6 mo. later had collagen put in to level out hole. And $ doesn't mean
`great'! Movie stars use alot of collagen as filler along w/ a tattoo match. Costly &
I'm allergic to the dye. If 1 is small, I ask to freeze. If it returns a few yrs. later, I
then cut. BC's appear many yrs. later where skin was damaged.

How can you distinguish a morpheaform BCC from other ones? I have what the doctor says "could be" BCC on my nose, on the right side, close to the bridge. It's a really small round place, no blood vessels going through it or anything. It feels a little bit raised, but a whole lot.

It looked like a zit, but is still there. It only bleeds when I pick at it.

It's been there about 5 weeks, but not much longer. I hope it's nodular and not morpheaform, if it is BCC. I'm 28-years-old and female, and have used suncreen on my face everyday for almost 4 years now. I haven't been to the tanning bed in about six years, and I didn't go that often when I did go.

Thoughts? If you've had a BCC on your nose, can you describe it for me?

Thanks,
C

My BCC on my nose looked in the beginning like a very small flesh colored mole. Over a year it slowly grew larger until it was quite noticeable. Then it started to bleed when I washed my face. It would heal after a week, only to bleed again when I washed up.

I had gone to the doctor the year before the bleeding started to ask him about it. He said that it was nothing and that he would not recommend a biopsy. That if I wanted one, I would have to pay around $500 because he would let my insurance know that it was not necessary. And that it would leave a scar on my nose, far more noticeable than the bump.

What a jerk! Well now I have a large scar because the cancer grew fast and deep. Jump at the chance to have the biopsy. Better safe than sorry. It turns out that a high percentage of BCC are on the nose.

You say you have a large scar...is it really noticeable? Do you feel you still look like yourself? Is the scar fading? How are old are you? I'm only 28 now, and quite scared.

I still look exactly the same. I should not have said that I have a large scar. It is just that if the doctor had taken the biopsy that I wanted a year prior, I would not have had as large of scar as I have now.

The scar is on the side of my nose, not near where the nostrils are but farther up. I am 46. The actual scar is half the size of the nail on my little finger, when the nail is cut as short as it can be. Then there are three of four short 2 mm creases/grooves coming from the scar where the stitches were from the failed skin graft. To me these lines are the worst part.

The laser treatment worked good at smoothing this out, so it looks better than it did originally. Of course it will never look like the rest of my skin. The second laser treatment I had got all of the redness out. I apply light foundation and powder and you cannot see the scar unless you are up close and are staring at the side of my nose. If you are up close and are purposely checking out the side of my nose, you can see that the area is not uniformly smooth.

I really think that you will only need a biopsy shave and then they will find out that it is benign. Something that has been growing for only five weeks will not have much to be cut off. Mine had been growing for at least two years. So don't worry. Ask for them to cut the bump off entirely for the biopsy. When they biopsyed mine, he cut it off in half, leaving half the bump. Better to have a nice flat surface remaining for when they tell you it was nothing!

I went back to look at pictures of myself in August 2003, and it looks like it was there then. I zoomed in on electronic photos so I could see my nose better. I guess I just didn't really notice it until it got bigger. It's a little less than 5 mm now. I think the edges are pretty defined. I can see the edges of it anyway, and it is only raised a little bit. You almost have to touch it to tell it's raised at all. I don't notice any blood vessels going through it, and like I said, it only bleeds when I pick at it.

I'm just hoping that it's not one of the agressive kinds, because I'm very afraid, terrified of losing my whole nose.

It's a dark red color. I'm thinking I will go on in for the biopsy soon - so I can at least know for sure. Have you heard of anyone losing their nose from a BCC that's been there for less than a year? I don't think they can grow that fast. I hope not, anyway.

I have never heard of anyone losing their nose to BCC. If someone has, it is because they ignored any signs.

Your bump seems very small. I am sure when it is biopsyed it will turn up benign. Make sure they take off the entire bump because they only took off half of mine. If it turned out to be benign, I would have been left with a bump obviously looking like it was cut in half.

My bump had been growing much longer than yours and the doctor told me that it was an aggressive BCC. He had to cut on me four times before coming to clear edges. Of course each time he brings you back in during that one day session your mind freaks out and you think that you won't have a nose left.

When I came back a week later to have the bandages removed and the skin graft came off with it too, I was left with this hole in my nose. The doctor told me that he did not want to do another graft yet because he felt that the skin would grow and fill up the hole. Than he could do laser treatments to smooth it out and take away any redness.

I just agreed to whatever he said because he was the expert. Well sure enough the skin grew up till it was flush with the rest of my skin on my nose. (I was sure that I was going to have a crater on my nose. Thank God I was wrong.) I had to wait three months for the laser treatment and I was very self conscious about the red scar on my nose. I kept a bandaid on it until the scab fell off and then I used makeup. At that point in time before the laser treatment you could tell immediately that something was not right about that side of my nose. The first laser treatment smoothed out the scar quite nicely. I had this done twice. Of course there was a healing period and another scab to cover. Then the next laser treatment was to get the redness out. Now my scar is considerably smoother and there is no redness at all.

If you saw my nose at the time the skin graft had come off, you would never believe how good it looks now.

All of the laser treatments were included in the price of my MOHS surgery. It was all part of the reconstruction. For me my MOHS was in October 2003 and I was not completely done until around March because you have to heal after each laser treatment to see if you need any more.

I am trying to be as graphic as I can so you can see that if by chance you have MOHS, that no matter how bad you think your nose looks, they can do wonders at making you look back to normal.

People will tell you not to worry, but unless they have been through it themselves it doesn't mean as much.

So try to look on the bright side that it will more than likely be benign because people your age don't usually get BCC. And if by some extreme chance you do have BCC, feel glad that it was caught early, that you are having MOHS and that they can fix you up good as new.

P.S. Whatever you do don't look on the internet about BCC. I did and I saw some horrible pictures that totally scared and depressed me.

cysutton-I too have had skin cancer since I was in my mid 20's. I am now 32 and have had 5 confirmed. We are watching lots of spots on my face. This makes me nervous too as I don't want things to be growing. Dr says I have AKs and they tend to look a lot like cancers. You asked how do you know if it is morpheaform type. I have had this type on my brow and to me it looked no different then the first spot that was not morpheaform. Mine was flat, a bit crusty and pink. Nothing to take notice to really-thats the hard part. I think every blemish now is skin cancer!!

Was yours not raised at all? Mine is raised very slightly and is more of a medium pink. It's a little smaller than 5 mm and very round. How long was yours there before they removed it? How many stages did you go through (how many rounds of cutting?).

Mine has been there about 10 months, and has only grown a little bit form the digital pictures I've looked at (zoomed in on my nose) from late August 2003. I'm very scared of losing my whole nose. How often does that happen - I wonder.

My husband and I were planning to try to get pregnant in the fall. I wonder how long they make you wait before getting pregnant after the surgery?

Mine was about 3 mm round but boy was the scar huge!!! I think I had over 30 stitches. Two rows across (like a rail road track) and one down!! They do this b/c closing a cicle is not that simple. It looks great now but I live in fear of the cancer coming back and having to go through it all again. I have had surgery twice now on the same area. Two different kind of basal cells. Both surgeries were just one round.

Have you had your spot biopsied? I would hold off on the worry until you get the biopsy back. Could it be an AK? Keep us posted!!