Oh the joys of growing up a Queensland kid, back in the days when we slathered on baby oil before baking ourselves in the sun to improve our tans.
Now as a middle aged woman, I am paying the price …
In 2015 I had my first brush with skin cancer, with a Squamous Cell Carcinoma on my nose. Fortunately it was caught early enough to be treated with Efudix cream.
This time I wasn’t quite so lucky.
Just before Christmas I had a biopsy, and it turned out the tiny sore on my cheek (the dark spot on my lower right cheek), was in fact a Basal Cell Carcinoma.
So on 28 February, I had plastic surgery (not something I ever thought I’d be saying!) to have it removed. Although my own doctor could have done it, we both felt it best to put my face in the hands of a professional, to minimise any scarring.
While I was there, I also got a mole removed from my forehead for purely cosmetic reasons (vanity, thy name is Janet).
As we get older, we get all sorts of lumps and bumps, wrinkles, lines, broken capillaries, peach fuzz on our faces … so you would think a couple of scars wouldn’t really matter much in the scheme of things. Still, I was hoping they wouldn’t be too noticeable, which is why I had my BCC removed by a plastic surgeon.
Recovery after BCC Removal
The actual surgery took less than half an hour, as I lay on the operating table (which reclined, a bit like at the dentist). The worst part was having several needles around each site to inject the local anasethic – brought tears to my eyes.
The surgeon used internal stitches to close both wounds so they were invisible, and dissolved after a couple of weeks.
In the meantime, I had to keep my wounds completely dry for the first 48 hours, and avoided swimming for a couple of weeks. Once I was allowed to wash, I was very gentle with my face and applied steri strips to assist in keeping the wounds closed for four weeks while my skin healed.
The first couple of days were the worst – I was swollen and sore, took things a bit easy and made sure I kept up with the painkillers.
I also couldn’t use my CPAP machine for the first few days, as one of the straps sits right on the tender area where the BCC was removed.
In the photo below, you can see the scar on my cheek is still a bit red and angry looking – but considering it was taken at the 10 day point, that’s not surprising.
The pic below was taken around the same time, only this time I’m wearing makeup and heading out to a meeting.
After four weeks of wearing bandages, I was VERY happy to go without at last! By this stage the scar on my forehead had practically disappeared, while the one on my cheek was settling down.
It was only at this point that my doctor recommended gently massaging the scar a few times each day with Bio-oil or similar, to break down any hard scar tissue, which I have been doing faithfully.
I’m quite lucky in a way, because the scar is on the side of my face you can’t even see it if you are looking at me straight on. The photo below was taken at the five week point, and the redness has definitely faded, though it was looking a little puckered.
7 Weeks After
It’s now been 7 weeks since I had the BCC on my cheek removed, and I’m very happy with how things are progressing. I’m wearing a little makeup in the images below, but even without any, both scars are barely noticeable – particularly when I smile (just another reason to smile more often!).
Actually, looking at these pictures now, I reckon the break out on my cheek (just above the scar), and the dent on the side of my nose from wearing glasses, are much more noticeable than the scar itself!
I’m hopeful that over time this scar will continue to fade. When I was in the waiting room for my pre-op consultation, another patient showed me the scar on her arm from when the same surgeon removed a BCC – and it was practically invisible – so I look forward to seeing how mine looks in six or even twelve months’ time!
The procedure cost about $700, although I got some back on Medicare. I also had to buy extra steri strips to last the whole four weeks.
Best of all, the pathology came back clear – meaning that the surgeon removed all of the skin cancer. Yay!
Do you have any scars from skin cancers being removed and are they very noticeable?