I am wondering if anyone on this message board has dealt with basal cell carcinoma on their face/nose? I have had a shiny slowly growing bump on my nose for over a year.. Sometimes it's pinkish, sometimes purplish, or light brownish. I went to the doctor and he mentioned basal cell carcinoma. Is this dangerous? Does it come back? I am having it removed in 2 weeks...
:confused:

I have had BCC on my nose and under my eye. You are lucky that your doctor is removing it. My dermatologist insisted that it was nothing until it would bleed and never heal. By that time it had grown deep.

I am sure that first your doctor will take a biopsy to see if it is BCC. BCC is the least dangerous skin cancer. It grows slowly and does not spread to other parts of the body like melanoma does.

If it turns out to be BCC, I would recommend having MOHS surgery done. MOHS is where the surgeon takes one small slice at a time and checks to make sure (under a microscope) that the margins are clear. This way only the least amount of tissue is removed.

With MOHS you have the best chance of no recurrence.

My MOHS surgeon did say that once you have BCC, you have a 20% chance of having another BCC within a couple of years. Less than a year later I had one under my eye.

So if this is BCC, be vigilent noticing any changes on your face. I spotted the bump under my eye. At first it looked like a possible pimple. Nothing I did helped. It continued to get bigger so I went to the dermatologist. Once again he said that it was nothing, but I insisted on a biopsy. A week later I was making an appointment with my MOHS doctor.

I hope that you are one of the lucky ones and your bump is nothing!