Hubby, skin cancer?!
Question: my hubby went to the dr today and got 6 spots burnt off his face. He has another one on his face but the dr did not burn it off. He said wait until it gets bigger and he will cut it out. Why would he want to wait until it is bigger? doesnt it make sense to get it now?
Answers: my hubby went to the dr today and got 6 spots burnt off his face. He has another one on his face but the dr did not burn it off. He said wait until it gets bigger and he will cut it out. Why would he want to wait until it is bigger? doesnt it make sense to get it now?
Having had dozens of skin biopsies done including numerous ones on my face let me give you an idea about what probably happened. The spots the Dr froze were probably actinic keratosis - precancerous lesions - which will heal up completely after the freeze blister heals. The larger spot may be too large to freeze and will probably need a biopsy done. The Dr is hesitant to just start removing lesions from your face unless absolutely necessary because people are very touchy about having scars on their face. Also he might want to watch the behavior of the lesion for a few months before removing it. Basal cell skin cancers typically grow quite slowly and almost never spread unless ignored for many years so there is no risk to the treatment plan the Dr is following. If you still have concerns then call the Dr's nurse and ask her why the lesion was not already removed. I'm sure she can give you a better answer than the guesses you will receive here. I'd trust the Dr's treatment plan since he has probably done many thousands of this type skin lesion.
It is most likely not skin cancer. If the doctor had thought it might be skin cancer, he would have (hopefully) sent it to a lab to be biopsied. As for why he would wait for it to get bigger, it may be too large to burn off and too small to cut out.
makes no sense to me either, if it is too large to burn off and too small to cut out, you would think that however small it is now would do less harm to remove now than having to remove a larger amount later on... I personally don't trust doctors much (I'm sure there are some really good ones, but like in most professions for every 20% good there tends to be 80% mediocre or bad). I'd try a different doctor, it makes no sense to me whatsoever (why would you want anything cancerous to grow or have time to grow? why would a doctor lead you to believe that it is cancerous if it is something else? why are you so ill informed that you need to be asking questions here to begin with?)
In some cases like that, might not yet be touch for a surgery. its too danger, it might affect blood vessels if will be cut off immediately.
Or look for a second option / opinion, Find another doctor. that's the best way =)
If the doctor felt there was a possibly of cancer, he would have biopsied the spots v/s burning them off.