Author: MichaelSC

It has been an interesting couple of weeks with a couple of SCC’s, especially one in particular. Both are on my left arm and both were basically not there a month ago.

The progression of the SCC.

I had a spot on my arm for a while and never bothered too much about as I was going to see a Dr in September and get a few things plus my skin checked out. Went away for a while late August (23rd) and noticed it had started to grow a little bit. This is a photo taken on the 1st of September:

Not to much to worry about.

So it continued to grow and I suppose a couple of bumps helped it along. Everyone bumps arms so no problem there. So one week later on the 8th September it had grown a bit bigger and I was not able to see a Dr as I was at sea on a Cruise.

A tad bigger,

When back in civilisation I went to see my GP as he cut the last one out and froze a few others previously. He had a look and suggested it was too big for him to attempt cutting out so refered me to General Surgeons ans Skin cancer Clinics fo appraisal. Also suggested it could be an SCC. Checked the rest of my arms etc and all looked OK. Just as an aside the usual skin cancer clinic I go to had no appointments for a month so I did not bother with them as I was concerned about how fast it grew.

No photos for the growth at this stage

Managed to get a quick visit (3 days later) to a different Skin cancer specialist a week later who was rather amazed with it and the quick growth. He also noticed another suspicious growth further up my arm. 2 Biopsies taken and booked in for a 45 minute excision a week and a half later.

Phone call 4 days after stating that there was a cancellation and could I come in for my excision. No problems with me as it was still growing and happy to get it removed. Toddled off to the clinic and the Dr says both biopsies came back as SCCs (no surprise there). He had ad a look at them and was amazed with the size of the big one on my arm. He reckoned it looked more like a 4 month growth, not 4 or so weeks. After drawing around it and consultation with another surgeon and plastic Surgeon he decided to leave it for another week to spend more time on it as there is not enough skin to cover the cut so skin will have to be realigned to fix it. This will also mean my arm cannot be moved for a while so will have to be immobilised with a cast and sling for 5 days. BUT he could cut the other one out further up my arm.

So small one cut out and back again next week for a bit of fun.

Today’s photos:

Getting bigger

Where he needed to cut

Been a while since I posted so thought I had better give an update.

Only had one SCC removed from my arm on 16th May 2022 up until yesterday (20/08/22) so was pretty happy with my skin.

Things went a bit belly up lately and I shall post a more detailed account of my adventures with skin cancer over the coming days.

Visit to the dermatologist today, go there for my dermatitis.

He checks my arms and legs and circles a couple of things and decides to remove them on the spot.

Couple of small SCCs he reckons so no biopsies just remove and send them off to the labs.

Scrape and cauterize for both.

Had a call from the Dr yesterday regarding the results of the Biopsies. Both were well defined SCCs. His opinion was that they both needed to be removed ASAP. Had an appointment booked for oday at 9:00AM so he said he will remove them then.

So back in I go and both removed in one cut. Basically the same as last time he removed the one on this arm on the 12th of February 2020. Because of all the restrictions with COVID-19 he suggested that I remove my own stitches in 2 weeks time and if the pathology on the removed SCCs has any issues he will be in contact.

Here be the photos:

Before removal – 2 SCCs that grew along the scar from previous SCC removal

After removal – the cut with stitches

Went for a checkup today and not too bad.  The leg is healed OK though a bit on the red side and dry so continuing using moisturisers on it to help.

Had 2 biopsies taken on the scar on the right arm as the Dr thinks they might be new ones as according to the pathology results for that removal he had removed the whole lot of the SCC. Now to go back in a week to get the results.

Had 3 biopsies 2 weeks ago, left shin, right calf and right forearm. The right forearm has grown a bit since then and pretty sure it is a squamous skin cancer (SCC from here on in). So the results were, left shin SCC, right calf not a skin cancer, right forearm a SCC. Doctor decided to cut the one on the right arm out due to the size of it and leave the one on left shin till my dermatitis on the site had cleared.

So here are some photos of the arm.

He also took a biopsy of another suspicious growth just above this site.

Back in 2 weeks for stitches to be removed and the one on the left shin removed.

These are the surgical removals between 2013 and 2019: