One of my friends insisted I document the process of having a basal cell carcinoma (scary name, 99% treatment success rate) removed from my face. I was hesitant at first, but it seems silly not to write about the process of having this surgically removed. After all, what is the purpose of a personal blog if it doesn’t get personal every now and then? For those of you who think blogs are self-indulgent ego-trips, stop reading and go do something for yourself. The way I look at it, maybe somebody else might want to know about the personal experience of having a carcinoma removed via the Mohs Surgical Procedure, and maybe they will stumble on this. Maybe this will be helpful to someone.
Here is an image of my face on about May 1. The carcinoma is the red, misshapen dot and the mis-formed skin around it. The whole thing is just below my left eye (mirror-reversed in the image, of course). When this little guest is not destroying the healthy tissue on my face and generally acting annoying and bleedy, it looks like a chicken pox or acne scar. Such a simple thing, and easy for someone who is not a trained physician to overlook. Thankfully, I have an attentive general practitioner in my corner.