Squamous cell cancer

Sending healing thoughts and prayers your way. And thanks for sharing your experience I will be on the watch for more flare-ups.

I went to Mohs surgeon yesterday to have squamous removed from my left forearm. The first thing he said is we're not doing Mohs today. Because of the location of where the squamous is he said insurance would not, most likely, pay for it. He took his time in explaining the options for removal--pro's and cons. He recommended what is called an incisional open wound method.
They will send the tissue to the pathologist and should hear back in about a week. In the unlikely scenario that he did not get it all then insurance will allow him to do Mohs--beginning where he left off. The cleaning and bandage changes are to be done daily and it is kept covered for 5-6 weeks. I was not prepared for this but the surgeon travels from practice to practice and would not be back at this location until the end of June so needed to make a decision then and there. Hope I made the right decision. I did wonder this: If he is qualified to look at tissue to see if he "got it all" using Mohs why could he not look at what he just removed to determine the same?
Also, I asked him if there is any connection to LP and Squamous. He said yes, but only where there is LP present, there is a higher instance of developing Squamous. He is the only dermatologist who had even seemed knowledgeable about this subject. We live, we learn. Thanks for the prayers.

Best of luck - seems like 5-6 weeks is a long time for it to heal sufficiently to not need the daily change of bandages. Guess I’ll find out. Also been told no exercise but not sure for how long -

I went to a dermatologist over tow years ago said the spots just comes with age some spots changed in size and color along with new ones coming from no where charged dermatologist and 4 biopsies later they are verruciod seborrhiec with folal actinic keratosis and the last was squamous cell carcinoma on my nose they froze just pray that's all they have to do does anyone else have this

I have had quite a few squamous cell carcinomas and basal cell carcinomas. These are the "good kind" of skin cancers with melanoma being the "bad kind". 'Quite a few', in my case, means about a dozen surgical removals, some of which were Mohs surgery and some just plain depending on location. I have had many dozens of smaller spots frozen with liquid nitrogen. Unfortunately this is not extremely rare to have many spots of these cancers. I have known people with just as many or more than me.
In general most of these types of cancer are slow growing and most of them are not very invasive. However there are exceptions. It has been best for me to get these removed surgically fairly soon after they are identified but no real urgency or panic. It has been best to go in once or twice a year to have all of my skin visually checked by a dermatologist. They know what looks suspicious and they are able to identify the little spots for freezing before they get big enough to require surgery.
The only thing that bugs me is when I get a bigger spot that looks just like previous spots that were cancer and required surgery. This new spot to me is obviously cancer and needs to be removed but they still insist on doing a biopsy to verify it. This is great for insurance purposes but it sucks for the patient. I have to heal from the biopsy which confirms it is cancer and then schedule the surgery to remove it and then I have to heal again from the surgery. And healing from the biopsy is usually worse than healing from the surgery. This does not seem necessary to me when it should be possible, given my history, for the dermatologist to identify the cancer with enough confidence to go straight to the removal. They could do pathology then to confirm it is cancer for insurance purposes.

I have asked this very question, since I also have had many basal and squamous cell skin cancers in my lifetime. Even, why do the surgery if the biopsy got it? It is all because of the medical protocol and liability. They have to "prove" to the insurance companies that it is cancerous or they won't pay for it, hence the biopsy. What bothers me the most about the whole thing is when doctors make a decision about what is the best way to remove a spot and don't give you a choice. I had a squamous cell on my left lower leg and the dermatologist said I don't need Moh's surgery. It left a huge (baseball size) scar on my lower leg that will never fade. I have even tried prescription bleaching cream. It got infected and it has been a long process to get it healed. I changed doctors, told the first one my results and heard nothing. She obviously didn't care. Please, learn from my experience! If you have anything to be removed on your legs, have Moh's surgery or be ready for a huge scar. Legs take forever to heal!

From my experience basal cell can wait, but squamous cell can grow very fast. I had a squamous cewll triple in size in just a few months and it raised up in size. I'm sure they are all different though.

Good news is, I have had several basal cells removed from my face and they did such a good job that the scars are not noticeable. But, regarding your question, I would definitely want it done before June. They usually schedule any kind of caner removal ASAP.
Good Luck!

For basal cell another option might be photodynamic therapy. Back when this first started I was in a study to evaluate the therapy. I had a basal cell carcinoma on my side where the ribs are. It was about the size and shape of a peanut shell with the two lobes and very slightly narrower in the middle. In this study they put four small dot-like tattoos around it and took photos. The treatment was to put this sensitizing cream on the cancer and then cover it with a plastic film like Saran Wrap for two hours. Then they used a special blue light on it for several seconds. It was all computer controlled for the exact time. This process was repeated one week later and together this was considered a treatment unit. About a month later the treatment unit was repeated and shortly after that the basal cell cancer had completely disappeared. You could not tell anything had ever been there on that skin except for the tiny tattoos. I was amazed it looked perfectly normal.
But like I said, this was at the study stage and photodynamic therapy was not considered an approved treatment for basal cell cancer so they still had to remove that area of skin surgically using the tattoos and photographs as a guide.
As a result of these studies this treatment is now approved for specific conditions. Personally I did not care about any scars on my side but I think photodynamic therapy would be great for facial cancers on young people that care about that stuff.

@nonobaddog How interesting to read about this! I've never heard of this treatment method before.

@koleke I have had everything from basal cell to squamous cell to melanoma, myself. Within each of those types have been unusual presentations. Anodular basal cell that needed MOHS and gave me a great lightning strike-looking scar. Amelanotic melanoma that was a flap surgery with horseshoe shaped 32 stitch scar on my arm. Each was biopsied first, which determined the treatment to be used, and yes, the healing can be pretty rough. Recently I had an aggressive squamous cell cancer removed, that needed 6 stitches to close. As the sutures were removed, they biopsied an new spot, that probably is the same aggressive squamous cell, located on top of my finger knuckle. Wow, that spot is so painful after the scrape biopsy! I am left wondering what they will do to remove the full cancer, since there is just the skin and bone there, hard to stitch it up. My "war wounds" have been honestly earned, and remind me of the battles I have faced.
Ginger

I hear you loud and clear, and I understand the anxiety following a positive test for SCC. Having been Dx ten years ago, that was what I felt. I have learned that some dermatologists (mine included) easily burn out in private practice - in part because they see so many, it's so common. That is what my Derm said. After my first positive test, the secretary called me to tell me the news, and that when the Dermatologist returned from her vacation in a few weeks they would call me to burn them off. After a few days, I got progressively anxious and began to read about SCC and treatment. I decided to take responsibility for this and found a Moh's surgeon diplomat in another state. I called and made an appointment and had my test results sent to him. He found that one of the sites was deep - and had branched out. I asked if "burning it off" would have been adequate treatment. He told me it would not. On another visit two months ago, at a university clinic I had another SCC removed (in situ) they refused to send me to the Mohs clinic and proceeded with scraping it. I still have the pink spot and wonder...Furthermore, I asked about one spot that concerned me, and she said "Oh, I am not worried about that." I said, I was and liked a biopsy, which came back positive for SCC. I feel very poorly about the nonchalant attitude about SCC. I asked for the chemo-creme because I have so many scaly/pink spots on my face - which she prescribed. Now, as I finally got the gusto to apply it, I have huge amounts of deep red and crusty spots, especially on my lips. I wonder if our anxiety is read by the provider as something that just is an overreaction because it is so comen...