Wide Local Excision of Melanoma

Hi and a very warm welcome to the online community

You and I are pretty unique as my melanoma was also an amelanotic melanoma. As you said in your profile, they're pretty rare and my consultant was pretty excited at having found one. Not exactly matched by me I should add!

Mine was on my arm and I didn't need a skin graft when I had my WLE and SLNB. That's great news that the biopsies from yours have come back clear

I was wondering what made you think you've been left with a "gaping wound"? As I said my WLE wound was stitched with dissolvable stitches and, although it looked ugly when I first saw it, now it's barely visible. I'm no expert on skin grafts but I thought they were used to cover the wound if it's too large to stitch together so a hole wouldn't be left.

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Hi Latchbrook. Thank you for taking the time to reply. My melanoma was on my lower leg on the inside of my calf. It was fairly large and the hole from the WLE is 8.5cm long x 5.5 cm wide x 2.2cm deep. This was too big to close and I have had a skin graft but that doesn’t cover over it in any way. A proportion of the graft has washed away the wound is a bit leaky. District nurses dressing and packing it several times a week and it isn’t infected. I feel quite traumatised. I am 17 days post-op. I am very thankful that the cancer has gone but I’m very tearful and still in shock. 

Hi

I'm just checking in to see how you're doing now. Has the wound from your WLE improved and have you had the results back from it yet? Keeping everything crossed that your wound is improving and that no further melanoma cells were found in the WLE skin.

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Hello Latchbrook - thank you for thinking of me. I am 5 weeks post op tomorrow and am healing slowly, although the WLE is still leaking and the district nurses are dressing it every day. The plastic surgery dept are very happy with it but I still haven’t looked. No cancer was found in what they cut out or in the lymph node so that is great. They have described the wound as looking like a crater but it is almost skin coloured and the graft has taken 95% and I will now be able to shower with a waterproof cover. I have an appointment with the plastic surgeon and the SCN in a fortnight. I hope that you are well and that no further problems have been found. Thank you again for asking after me.