Hello,
I was diagnosed with bcc in my birthmark (port wine stain) on my right cheek. I had a small area in my birthmark above my lip that was itchy, dry and scaly. It was diagnosed first time about 6 years ago and removed with laser but doctor didn't see anything suspicious so he didn't offer further biopsy although the area was getting bigger. About a year ago I went to my local gp who specialises in skin and told her that I was diagnosed witch cancer. She didn't see anything but just in case gave me referal to dermotologist and they decide to do biopsy just in case. My results came back positive. After this biopsy they did another one and took samples from 3 different areas (above my lip closer to nose, one on the cheek and one on nose near to the eye). All the results come back positive too. I had an appointment to discus my results and further plan only yesterday and feel lost. I have no idea what to do. They had a meeting of 12 profesionals to discus my case but they don't agree which way is the best one and I have to decide. They did offer to do mohs but it is such a large area. They literally have to remove half of my face... They offered a cream too but only because I'm still young and I might want to avoid big scars. But I don't think cream would penetrate deep enough and cure it and I'm worried that bcc might spread even more. I've read that most of the people are very happy with the mohs but I was wondering if anyone had a very big are removed.
Hi and a warm welcome to the online community
I'm sorry to read that you've recently been diagnosed with a BCC and that you now have to make a decision about your treatment.
The meeting of 12 professionals which you refer to was probably the MDT (multi-disciplinary team) meeting which is a gathering of such people as a dermatologist, plastic surgeon, skin cancer nurse, etc. They would have discussed the best way of treating your BCC and decided that either Mohs surgery (link) or treatment with a cream would do the trick.
It's not that they can't decide what to do but that both methods will have a good outcome so we, the patient, have a say these days into what our treatment should be. Often though we'd rather be told which is best rather than being asked to choose ourselves!
There are lots of people in this group who have had Mohs surgery and lots who have used a cream, usually Aldara (link) and hopefully they'll be along to tell you of their experiences.
You could also have a look back through previous posts which mention Mohs or Aldara (imiquimod) by typing these words separately into the search bar in this group.
When I had to make a decision about whether or not to have a sentinel lymph node biopsy following my melanoma diagnosis, I listed the pluses and minuses of having the operation which helped me come to my decision. This could be something that you could do too.
If you still can't decide then you could request another meeting with the consultant to go through the pros and cons of both options again.
Let us know what you decide to do.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
