Yesterday I had a basal cell carcinoma BCC) removed from the top of my head. The procedure was done using a process called Mohs surgery. The surgeon takes as little skin as possible. The part that is excised goes to a lab immediately and they look to see if the margins are clear of the BCC. It only took two excisions, but the whole process took four hours because it takes time to prepare the excised skin for analysis. When the margins are clear, a decision is made about how to close the wound. In this case it could be natural healing, but the wound is about the size of a half dollar. It would take 3 to 6 months before the wound fully heals. We decided to do a graft instead, with donor skin taken from the clavicle area. Sadly, this will not happen until next Wednesday, but the upside is that the graft should be healed in a month. Right now I have a very bulky pressure bandage on my head. It looks weird, but I can cover it with a hat when I go out.
It's worth mentioning that the entire procedure was pain free, with the exception that I felt the needle used to inject the local anesthetic. Minor pain for a few seconds. Later, at night, I felt the wound throbbing. Tylenol took care of that. No problems this morning.
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