I have two options: Ellipse Excision (most invasive) and Curettage and Electrodesiccation (least invasive). Derm says with C and D she is not able to tell me if after the surgery all basal cell carcinoma are removed as there is no pathology testing. I'm nervous thinking about what I want the most. Has anyone on the Cancer board had either of these two surgeries. If so, which one was most successful?
View 1 RepliesI have recently undergone 12 weeks of trauma, including 4 operations under general anaesthetic for a basal cell carcinoma on the side of my nose. It is a legacy from one I had removed 10 years ago, which wasn't totally removed. I went to my GP last year about this lump and she said it was just scar tissue. In February I felt uneasy about this and went back and she referred me to the Maxillofacial Department at our local hospital. I saw the Consultant on 12th May, 5 days after I buried my Dad and my feet never hit the ground until my final op. on 27th July. I had a paramedian skin flap op. where they take a vein from your forehead attached to the skin graft and attach it to your nose for 5 weeks then snip the bit outside and and put the vein back in with a couple of stitches. I am still in a bit of shock at the speed this was all done and I was wondering if anyone out there has had this done this way.
View 2 RepliesDefinitely have the Mohs procedure done and not radiation on the face. I had it just done, they had to cut the size of a nickel out, and did a skin graft over. But it's gone, and over. I am healing now.
New to the forum..and quite frankly this is all still a bit surreal to me. I was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on my face above my lip. I never knew it was cancer and initially, when it first appeared on my face (when I was 18!), I thought it was a huge pimple. Eventually it healed into a flesh toned bump and it looked like a raised flesh colored mole, about 0.3 cm in its largest surface dimension.
This whole time I thought it was a poorly healed acne spot and now that I am 24, I decided to go see a dermatologist to have this removed (for cosmetic reasons). He ended up sending it to get biopsied to be safe and it ended up being cancer!
Now, I'm torn between doing Mohs or proceeding with radiation. Since it was in my face for 6 years, I'm afraid maybe the root grew deeper into my skin and they would have to cut out more tissue. All the Google images of post Mohs surgeries look so scary and I'm beginning to feel a bit traumatized that I'll have to go through this on my face.
Can anyone weigh in on how their Mohs surgery/scar healed? If they were to cut out a dime-sized area on your face, would they stitch you up after or would they leave it as an open wound and let it heal that way? What are the implications of how they close the surgery on the scar you are left with afterward? How many days/weeks do you have to wait for the open wound to start looking like a healing scar?
Because of this, I almost want to proceed with radiation so that I don't have to deal with waiting weeks for the scar to heal (I work full time in an office and enjoy going out to hang out in my leisure time, I would not want to be out if I had an open wound healing on my face). I like that it's less invasive and I know that they won't be cutting out a huge part of my face. What worries me about Mohs is that I won't know how big of a chunk they'll be taking off my face. I know Mohs is the gold standard for removing all of the cancer, but radiation treatments can have up to 95%-98% cure rate. IF my basal cell were to recur after proceeding with radiation treatments, would it recur in the same place or would it pop up somewhere else on my face? How does recurrence usually work with basal cell carcinoma?
Just diagnosed, surgery this coming week. Anyone have experience with this? Don't feel confident in doctors, have lots of questions.
View 1 RepliesMy husband was just diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer of the skin called Merkel Cell Carcinoma on his forehead. It was seen previously by our family physician who thought it was just a cyst.
He has received a wide excision of the tumour, but they did not do a SLNB ( sentinel lymph node biopsy).
Though we've been told the borders are clear, from all the research we have been reading, a lymph node biopsy is recommended for accurate staging of the disease and better survival. We are currently awaiting an appointment with an oncologist at Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
We'd love to hear from anyone with information regarding Canadian expertise in this area and failing that, any info. or recommendations to clinics known for their knowledge in treating this. There are many doctors who just don't know anything about it and we are searching for the doctor with experience treating MCC. We are already behind because the plastic surgeon didn't automatically forward the initial biopsy report to our family physician and we went back to the office to request a follow-up with the Cancer Clinic. In the meantime, we hope we will hear soon from Juravinski, since we'd like to get going if he's to do that biopsy and any radiation follow-up treatment.
Is is necessary to shave your hair for a surgical excision mole removal on the scalp? I'm a 29 year old female with long hair and my dermatologist says she must shave off a section of my hair so hair doesn't grow into the wound. The mole is about the size of an eraser and located near the crown of my head.
I'm very worried about the aesthetic result. Is this usually necessary or should I get an opinion from another doctor? I really don't want to lose my hair. Also, is it likely that the mole removal itself will leave a bald patch?
I am considering a vasectomy, and according to the medical literature (see links to citations below), the recommended methods for vas occlusion are cautery and/or fascial interposition (preferably both methods).
However, I have consulted with two local urologists, and neither of them use either of these techniques. Instead, both simply do an excision and ligation, and one of them takes an additional step of folding back and suturing the ends of the vas deferens. Both physicians have very good credentials and are highly experienced.
Is it unusual for urologists (in the U.S.) to perform only excision and ligation without any cautery or fascial interposition, or is excision and ligation still commonplace and considered good practice? Is it important to perform cautery and/or fascial interposition, and should I therefore continue to look for a urologist who performs one or both of those techniques?
Note, I am particularly concerned about long-term recanalization (i.e., a year or more after the procedure). I know the rates of late recanalization are generally assumed to be low, but as I understand it, the true rate is difficult to ascertain due to a lack of systematic long-term follow-up.
I've had a brown fairly flat mole on my left cheek since as far back as I can remember. It started to annoy me so I decided to get it removed. I saw a dermatologist who said a shave excision might not work but he would give it a go.
Everything has healed now but I am left with a small 'crater' where the cut was made but the coloring of the mole is still there. If anything, it looks worse than before. I'd really like to get rid of this.. what are my options?
I've attached 2 images of how it looks from the side and also front-on (which shows how it caves in now). I know it's not a huge thing and is purely cosmetic.
In 2013 I was diagnosed with N.E.T. malignant of the ilium where small intestine meet large intestine. They found it during a colonoscopy, when they did the surgery to remove they found one more tumor in the appendix. The tumor in the intestine was 3 cm and the one the the appendix was 1 cm. The one in the intestine went through the wall so they took lymph nodes 12 found only 11 - 1+ , so they said they needed to keep an eye on me for 2 years. These are they results of my chromogranin test which don't make sense to me???
Close to surgery date when I had 2 positive tumors
Chromogranin A
9/13 53. <93
2/14. 97. <93
4/14. 76. <93
7/14. 60. <93
7/15. 92. <93
With the 7/15 test they found 3 enlarged lymph nodes around the surgery area during the C.A.T. scan but very slightly enlarged like 2 mm enlarged each not enough for him to worry. But he's going to retest in January, he said it might be just an infection around the surgical site. But he did a full blood work up and my count wasn't up.
During the 2 years since the surgery I have had extreme pain in the surgical site and in another site in there they've done all external testing they can but when I suggested a colonoscopy to view the surgical site they said my Oncologist said one was not needed to view tumors.
I asked my primary care doctor to speak to the gastrointestinal doctor and they refused to do the test. So I went outside the hospital that did my surgery they refused to do the test saying go back to the place you had your previous test done. So how do I know if this is from the surgical site or the lymph nodes since when I actually had to malignant tumor's my levels were within normal range?
If you need to know more please ask . At this point I'm having a very hard time trusting my physician care.
A few months back my Dr was checking my thyroid - said it felt soft - sent me for blood tests (MANY hypothyroid symptoms!) (which were ok - TSH only 1.1) and an ultrasound which showed a small 8x7x7mm hypoechoic mass lesion on the lower left lobe of my thyroid. I had a FNA biopsy two weeks ago, today actually, and already found out last Friday that 2 of the 3 pathologists said they can't say what it isn't but to remove it asap and the 3rd said absolutely consistent with papillary carcinoma and to remove it asap as well... so now I am just waiting to have it removed. My Dr absolutely agrees and said get it out! He said depending how bad it is they will decide whether they just remove the mass but will possibly remove the whole thyroid... do they end up doing two surgeries or do they get in there and see its worse then they thought and make the decision right then and there? He explained it is THE cancer to have - although no one wants any cancer... that it is very treatable etc. I'm just stressed and wondering about the whole thing. Is it normal to have normal thyroid levels but have PC?
View 3 RepliesSince dropping below 5 mg I am having ED problems. I read the prescription details on Viagra and it mentions vision loss. Since I have GCA this is a cause for concern. Does anyone out here have experience with this?
View 7 RepliesI'm 19 and 6 months ago I had a SCT. In August 2013 I was diagnosed with ALL(acute lymphoblastic leukemia). During chemo and after SCT I had cycle but it was a bit different. For a few days I have been feeling bad, I am vomiting. Today I found that I am pregnant. What should I do?
View 1 RepliesI’ve been suffering from scleroderma for more than three years now and as the disease progressed my current treatment (Cyclophosphamide transfusion) seems completely unable to stop scleroderma to progress further to my lungs. So, ever since I got my diagnosis I’ve been searching online for possible treatments and one that came up is stem cell transplant that they seem to do in Singapore. The name that pops up most often when researching this topic is dr Loh Su Ming Yvonne – she is the one doing the stem cell transplants. I’m sure the whole thing could be too expensive, especially if she doesn’t operate in US, but still, if anyone went through stem cell transplant, could you please tell me did it help or not?
View 2 RepliesDoes anyone know of any U.K. hospital that carries out stem cell treatment for hips rather than hip replacement
View 6 RepliesMy mother in law suffered from Alzheimer's disease for 10 years . Now I'm seeing symptoms in my husband (He often forgets like the name of his friend, etc..). I was alarmed and asked help from a friend. She recommended me the stem cell therapy for Alzheimer in Asia where we tried and stayed at the medical clinic for almost 2 weeks. He is on his 2nd week of therapy and I really hope that everything goes well.
View 1 RepliesI have heard they have this to help neuropathy. Have not thoroughly checked it out. Has anyone tried this or know anything about this?
View 1 RepliesI was just wondering if anyone in USA or Canada has heard of this and what they thought? I have talk to a Dr. and a Nurse from the States and they say it does work, but cost a few thousand . No one has called me back in Canada yet. Before I spend the money, just want to make sure it's safe and will help.
View 19 RepliesI have Bronchiectasis and live in the states.
Has anyone hear of Stem Cell Research involving this illness?
there is the Lung Institute here in the states and I signed up for a webinar next week.
Has anyone had Stem Cell Injection on Knee with Osteoarthritis? They will repair a torn meniscus. The stem cell injection is a new procedure that is supposed to help people with osteoarthritis to help grow cartilage back. It works in most people from what I am reading. Wondering if anyone has actually had this done and what is the outcome? I am facing a TKR in time but they won't do it now. This is my only option.
View 2 RepliesI have an appointment next week at Placidway to discuss whether I will continue with the stem cell transplant for Parkinson's Disease in Europe early next yr. I have many things on my mind and I plan on asking a lot of questions. I'll try my best to understand and be relaxed. Lol! Anyone can help me on what to expect?
View 1 RepliesHaven't posted in a long time- years....I have a family member that is an adult pain patient. In 2004 he began his journey when a surgeon damaged nerves during surgery and now he suffers severe pelvic floor pain that radiates into his legs and toes.
Medication regimen is MSir and methadone; pain levels are 5-10 without remittance. Pain specialist has tried every available block, implantable device and nothing has worked due to where the nerve injury is.
We've talked about a motor cortex stimulator but the chance of something going wrong (seizures, stroke, hemorrhage) keeps us at bay.
I recently read that stem cell therapy has been attempted with success on pain patients and was wondering if anyone has any experience or knowledge of this potential therapy. Some centers use autologous stem cells and others are using banked, pooled cells. UCSF (I've heard good things about their pain service)