Hi, I had a deep skin graft performed on the side of my nose on Thursday and am currently waiting in anticipation to see if the graft has worked, stitches will come out on Thursday of next week so fingers crossed. History: I had a small lump develop on the side of my nose about 18 months ago and thought nothing of it. Playing rugby I would often bash my face and this area would bleed, again I put it down to rugby and carried on. About six months ago it started to bleed on its own accord without being knocked and the surface texture changed to a more rough appearance, from time to time it would flare up slightly and lose skin so again after putting it off for a while I decided to visit the doctor. I was referred to the hospital where a couple of months later when I finally got my appointment I was diagnosed with a BCC commonly known as a 'Rodents Ulcer' as it gnaws away at your skin at a very slow rate. It is pretty much the most benign type of skin cancer, once removed there is little chance of re-occurrence so I wasn't too worried. Luckily I have Health insurance through work so I got a cancellation to see a Specialist the following day. The BCC was confirmed and I was scheduled for surgery two weeks later where we discussed the various options available i.e. flaps, skin graft, etc. I opted for the skin graft to hopefully minmise the scar area on my face. Here we are back to today. The operation was OK, not too stressful. We are now on Day 3 and I have had no pain whatsoever from either my shoulder where the graft was taken or my nose. My main concern is if the graft takes, if it doesn't there is a whole other journey to embark upon. One step at a time. I'm not too worried about scars and things as the BCC was on the side of my nose close to the bottom, no-one noticed the BCC so why should they notice a scar. From previous ops I have had including a 6 inch hernia scar, the scars have all healed to very faint white lines where you can hardly see them so again it's a story for the pub in later years - who knows, a shark bite, a street fight or something along those lines. Anyway, so far so good and I'll update following the stitches coming out next week. I'm not planning to return to work until after the dressings have been removed and I'll see what it looks like in regard to whether I keep dressing it. I've decided not to look at websites and things as they are full of horror stories and horrible pictures, I have nievely come this far which I think has helped. If anyone has any similar experiences I would be glad to hear them especialy in regard to how long it actually takes to heal completely i.e. 3 months, 6 months, 18 months and any tips to help it heal. Thanks.
