[phillygirl]

Anyone have dr Casper perform MOHs surgery on their face and have him close wound up? Or did you use plastic surgeon. I'm so nervous.

[AJ32162]

He did MOHS surgery on my face above my right eyebrow for a nodular basal cell and closed the wound with 8 sutures, 4 internal and 4 external. The incision was 1 3/8' long. That was in June 2013.

I still have a small scar about 1/2" long which is noticeable if you look for it, but it's not too bad. The tumor measured about 5/16" inch in diameter and the wound cavity from the excision was about the diameter of a nickel and the depth of a dime.

My previous dermatologist made the mistake of freezing that lesion several years ago. It healed completely on the surface, but continued to grow wider and deeper until it finally resurfaced. It caused a lot of damage that could have been prevented had it been biopsied earlier. I mention this only because people sometimes complain about having what they perceive to be unnecessary biopsies for suspicious lesions. As I told Dr. Casper, I would rather have ten too many than one too few when it comes to biopsies. The biopsies leave minimal to no scaring and are far better than the alternative - an undetected and continuously growing skin cancer which will need to be treated later.

[phillygirl]

Thank you

[AJ32162]

For what it worth, I also had another basal cell removed from my right anterior bicep by Dr. Casper on January 12, 2016. It was not MOHS, but the closure procedure is the same. It is a 1 1/2" incision and seems to be healing nicely, although not as fast as the one above my right eye did. The face and scalp heal pretty fast.

If the surgery isn't on a part of your face that makes reconstruction a little tricky (nose and ears) I wouldn't worry about it. I've had four lesions removed so far at the age of 62, and I will no doubt have more removed in the future. Unfortunately, that's the way it is. Too much sun exposure in my twenties. I've just accepted it and moved on.

Good Luck with your surgery.