Send me an email & I'll give you a good link where you can ask questions. ~Hugs

My Dad had several basal cell cancers on his nose and forehead - the curse of many fair skinned, blue eyed Irish. He didn't realize what they were but luckily he came to visit us and my DH recognized it immediately and prescribed a topical cream. DH is a medical oncologist and it's scary how often we'll be somewhere and he'll see something that needs treatment.

Two of my 3 adult children have already had pre-cancerous spots removed. One had a spot on his shoulder and another had one on the bottom of her foot. My kids just thought they were different freckles but again DH knew immediately. The dermatologist was able to remove the shoulder spot in her office but the other one had to removed by a surgeon.

I have a Swedish girlfriend who had a melanoma surgically removed from the side of her nose. It was small and now that it's healed I can't see where it was.

I hope your DD's is minor and can be easily treated.

Trailrunner, I had three basal cell carcinomas removed from my skin between the ages of 21 & 26. One was on the corner of my nose, one the corner of my eye, & one on my shoulder. I had sixteen stitches under my eye! The one on the nose only required 4 or 5 stitches as I recall, & wasn't as painful as having the stitches around my eye. On the shoulder I had a staple & ten stitches.

I am 49, & haven't had any further incidents. After these procedures (though not horrible things to go through, not pleasant, either) I became a faithful user of sunscreen daily, & never, ever get a tan. That makes me a real oddball in a sea of sunworshipers, but that's okay!

I think it's great that your dd found the growth & took herself to a doc. It should be highly treatable. Keep us posted.

I send my heartfelt wishes for an accurate diagnosis & effective treatment to your dd, & a big hug to you!

rose...you have mail :) Thank you !

quilly...DD is a fair Irish blond too ! She is also a sun lover from the past. She is 29 now and knows better. She said it is on the bridge of her nose right where her glasses sit. It is almost completely flat and white looking. She hadn't noticed it before so can't be sure how long it has been there. The dermatologist said it is better to be safe than sorry and took the initial scraping. It came back and he told her that it needs to come off as it can develop into a melanoma...which is certainly true . I have had a number of pre-cancerous and one largish squamous cell removed in the past...another sun lover...sigh.

You have a prince for a DH !! Are you saying that your Dad's were treated only with a cream ? He didn't have surgery ? DD will have a pressure bandage and have to be "quiet" for several weeks till it heals well . They said the kind of stitches will be determined when the surgery is done. We will be there for it...on the 16th.

Any info your DH cares to share will be appreciated also. Thank you !!

Quilly, I am wondering about that, too-I have never heard of a cancer not being removed. What kind of cream was it?

Trail, chances are it is a fairly recent appearance, or I bet she would have noticd it. Glad they are getting it quickly.

"She was seeing a dermatologist for an unrelated problem..." (Duh, sorry I missed that.) Well that points to how good & observant her doc is...& that's excellent news too!

Trail, I had two skin cancers on my face that were removed using the Mohs procedure. Both procedures left only near-invisible white line scars. You really have to go looking for them to find them.

I also was a sun worshipper until my late 30's. My skin is fair and freckley although I would get very tan. I still have skin cancers popping up from time to time, fortunately not melanomas.

Your daughter is lucky that it was caught early. Skin cancers grow very slowly.

The Mohs surgery is a simple procedure done in the doctor's office. They keep removing layers of skin until the margins are cancer free. That way they do not take any more than they have to and reduce the scarring. As I said, my scars are nearly invisible. The doctor does have to have special training in the technique but it seems that many dermatologists are trained this way. If her's is not, she can be referred to one who is.

Good luck and don't be worried. And a lesson to us all to use that sunscreen. Do young people still lie in the sun toasting themselves like we did? I hope not.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mohs

Thank you for the initial answers. SG I was posting when you were so missed your info. Sounds very positive and I am glad you had such a good outcome.

I will know more when she sees her dermatologist tomorrow for a follow up. She just talked to me and said she is going to see him and will ask a bunch of questions and get written answers for MOM !!

For whatever reason they are not going to do MOHS. She will have a plastic surgeon, board certified, not the dermatologist. She will have stitches, she was told, and will be there for several hours, they will do the initial surgery then look at all the tissue and then decide what else needs to be done. She will have a significant pressure bandage at first and will need to take it easy for 4-6 weeks ! She was bummed about that as she is an avid runner/gym person ...where did she get that :)

So...this is not a small deal. I am a basket case. Can't let on to her as she is very upbeat and has great confidence in her MD. So I need to take a chill pill....

I appreciate all the info so far. I will post back when I know more. Thank you all..this is the best group of friends that a woman could ask for. c

I bet it's because it is on the bridge of her nose and there is so little flesh there. Takes a skilled hand to do that work. Sounds like she is getting the best possible treatment.

Stay positive -- things will be fine. Hard for us moms not to worry, no matter the age of our kids. My older son just had a procedure on his knee and I swear he called me before the sedation had worn off because I bugged him about it so much.

My Dad's cancer was diagnosed as 'superficial basal cell' and was treated with a chemotherapy drug. That was over 10 years ago. But if you google superficial basal cell that treatment is still fairly standard. The chemo drug my Dad used was Fluorouracil, an antimetabolite which inhibits cell division and causes the death of quick growing cancer cells because they absorb it faster than surrounding normal cells.

I'm curious - is it possible that the dermatologist missed your DD's because she didn't remove her glasses?

Please remind your DD to check the bottom of her feet. It's just one of those places we seldom look and for some reason cancer cells found there or underneath a finger or toe nail may be more aggressive. When my DD casually mentioned to her Dad that she had a freckle on the sole of her foot he immediately looked and told her that it should be removed. Then he told me to call the surgeon first thing in the morning to make an appt. I must have given him an odd look because that's when he explained that the location was significant. Since it was on the bottom of her foot she didn't need a plastic surgeon.

quilly thank you for the f/u. She said that the dermatologist checked "every inch" of her at the last appt. !! I think the reason he missed the place on her very first visit is because she wears make up and they were so focused on her problem with a sebasceous cyst that he wasn't looking for other problems. Then when she had a f/u to the cyst as it refilled he began looking at the area more closely...it is at the corner of her nose/eye area...and saw this faint white area. Anyway they are on it now.

Funny I have a mole on the bottom of my foot. I have had every inch inspected also several times in fact and mine is just a nevi. I have so many nevi that it is confusing for a non-medical person to try and look at my skin and see what needs attention. i have to rely on a specialist.

I am so glad I posted here...as usual this is such a caring and wonderfully educated group. Thank you my friends. c

I think there is a topical treatment; Efudex that is used to treat keratoses and some skin cancers (a few of the women I had taught with had used it--under a doctor's supervision, of course). I think the cream (lotion?) was applied all over, and the cancerous areas then became crusty and scabbed over. The scab eventually fell off, taking the cancer with it? I don't know how the lesion is determined to be a good candidate for Efudex vs surgical removal, or if this is even still being used but it might be worth inquiring.

Tell M good luck.

My brother was watching TV one day and happened upon a program where they were describing different types of skin cancer and one looked like a blue ink pen dot. He thought that looks like the spot on the bottom of my big toe. He had noticed this before and tried to wash it off but it stayed. He made an appointment and found out it was a melanoma! It was just a speck of a thing but they ended up having to go back a second time to get a clear margin.
It wasn't so much the diameter as the depth they had to go. He was on crutches for several months as it took forever for it to heal. He is now over 5 years out and no other problems. Literally the TV show saved his life as he would never have gone to the doctor. Turns out it is not as unusual as you might think. Sometimes they are found between the toes or even under the nail.

cat_mom...thank you and I will tell M. She sees the MD tomorrow so I will have a lot more detail as she is giving him my email and allowing him to send a complete report.

mboston...what a story. I am so glad your DB is doing well. He was a lucky man for sure. I have heard of such spots but it just seems so unreal. Thank you for posting. c

Trailrunner~ I think she is having MOHS . MOHS is simply the act of cutting out what the doctor sees to be tumorous, looking at it under a slide and determining if the boundaries are clear.Perhaps he has a good sense that it is contained.
Do you know if it ever bleeds at that spot ?

The 1st time I had basil cell removed from my check the plastic surgeon had to graft skin from an eyelid . Beautiful scar but it came back. The next surgery he had to graft from the other eyelid and from behind one ear.
Gone at last....

And hey I got an eye lift ~

I've also had it removed from my nose but the dermatologist
shaved it off in his office.

If the plastic surgeon is not going to section the sample just ask why ...

forboys...your explanation is clearer to me. I now know what to ask about the actual time in surgery. Her derma told her, she said, that it looked very early and she was not to worry.

The only thing I did read about MOHS is that quite a few people said that it came back at least once if not more after the procedure and that is why they felt that seeing a plastic surgeon from the outset was better. So in that respect I am glad the derma referred her immediately to a ps.

I so appreciate all the info. Helps keep me from going over board with worry. c

Oh~ One quick thing...
A shot to the bridge of the nose will be bad.

Also when the local wears off the pain is shocking..

Take the meds. prior to the numbness wearing-off !
I guess that's two things..

My mom had a basal cell cancer in her hairline in her temple area. She said the worst thing was the shot of novocaine and that she couldn't wash her hair. Right, forboys, she luckily took the pain meds before the numbnes wore off. She did have the work done by a plastic surgeon.

Desmoplastic trichoblastoma

these grow and become very disfiguring. It is quite rare. They need to be removed while small as they always get larger and more involved and then require a lot more cutting. Never becomes malignant. The other main thing is they need to be very careful in the dx so that they don't treat it as if it is a basal cell and do more than need be done. It is more or less a hair follicle/ sebaceous gland gone crazy.

Thanks for the info on the pain med/and injection. I am not going to tell her about the initial injection as they may have some "miracle" to help with it.

I appreciate all the immediate info . Unless there is something very different that shows up on exam of the tissue I think we are very lucky she needed to see the Dr initially. c

TR, I have no info, but I am so sorry that your daughter is going through this. VERY thankful that it was caught so early.

From what you a describing, the reason she is not having MOHS is because it's not cancer. That's great news.

They are probably going to excise it and send it to a pathology lab for definitive diagnosis and to make sure they have all the margins.

Ask the doctor to prescribe something she can take before surgery to take the edge off. About 8 years ago, I had my upper eyelids done. They gave me a prescription for something (I don't remember what. I did not feel the needles going in. It was a painless surgery