Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Nose Job

I've been visiting a dermatologist annually for several years. Last year he punched a hole in the top of my head. This time he decided to take a sample of my nose. Turns out the sample was a basal cell carcinoma so he refered me to a Mohs surgeon. If you get queasy, you might want to just skip the rest and make an appointment with your dermatologist instead.

We managed to sneak in the river trip between the initial biopsy and the surgery so the initial cut had healed leaving just a little divit. The surgeon's assistant marked their target.

The anesthetic was excellent. Quick and easy. I was a bit surprised at how deep they went, wondering how much more they would take if they needed to go back for a second or third pass.

They determined that they got all the nasties on the first pass, so it was time to visit with the plastic surgeon who would do the closing. She drew an even larger teardrop on my nose.

She stretched the skin down the nose and added a whole bunch of little tiny stitches.

The finishing touch was an obnoxiously large bandage. Glad BJ came with me because my glasses sat too high to be very usable for driving. A week later, the incision is essentially healed.

I guess I've become a fan of annual (dermatology) inspections.

8 comments:

  1. I visit my dermatologist with angst every year. So far, so good, but I know my day is coming if I live long enough. Hope things go as planned.

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    1. Apparently its the potential price for spending time in the outdoors.

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  2. I had a spot of basal taken off my forehead a few years ago. Similar to yours. Had such a huge bandage too. Gauze winding around my head. They said I could go to work the next day but had to wear the bandage. I stayed home. Even the second day and for a week or more I had a big bandaid on my forehead. Had to explain a lot at work! Glad they got it all on first pass.

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    1. I think the massive bandage was the most intimidating part of the procedure.

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  3. Ouch, glad you are taking care of yourself.

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    1. Actually, nowhere near what I thought it might be. Pretty painless but not so pretty.

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  4. I had the same done Monday, 12 stitches, and 3 weeks ago 20 all on my chest...
    Everyone needs to go visit a skin doc once a year..Beats dying..Eh??

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    1. My GP got me started on annual checkups with the dermatologist several years ago. Now I'm glad he did.

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