Risk/benefit for Mohs near facial nerve
I have a BCC in the area of the temporal nerve near my eye. If this area is excised by Mohs, sometimes the nerve is cut--causing permanent paralysis of the face. To avoid this outcome, I opted for brachytherapy, but had a skin ulceration and other complications after just two sessions. (Brachy is not as carefree as they say!) Now I am back to having to contemplate Mohs.
The risk/benefit does not add up: Remove a basal cell (usually fairly benign) at the risk of permanent facial disfigurement. But I can't just ignore the basal cell, at least according to current wisdom. The basal cell is 4mm deep so I'm not sure creams would work. What would you do in this situation?? Thank you!
...I am so sorry you had complications and had to reconsider Mohs. Have you considered a plastic surgeon? There are many skin cancer patients who have plastic surgeons do their facial surgeries.
I think you are wise to not ignore the BCC. While it isn't generally as serious as melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma, it can definitely cause damage down the road. If I were you, I think I would opt for Mohs or possibly an excision. I believe the benefits of having it removed far outweigh any negatives. It may take some time for your scarring to heal, but there are many strategies to lessen the scarring.
I am including a few links about Mohs and scarring you might find helpful.
Judy shared her experience here: https://skincancer.net/life-with-skin-cancer/mohs-surgery-face
Here Judy compares Mohs to excisions: https://skincancer.net/life-with-skin-cancer/mohs-excision
https://skincancer.net/life-with-skin-cancer/aftercare-facial-mohs-surgery
https://skincancer.net/life-with-skin-cancer/surgery-options-for-skin-cancer-scars
We are here for you any time! Sending you lots of positive thoughts as you move forward.
April, SkinCancer.net, Moderator...I completely understand your concern with my reply and I apologize for any misunderstanding on my part. While I am not a licensed physician, I am an advocate and a skin cancer patient but have not been in your specific position. My reply came from a place of concern for you as a fellow skin cancer patient. Please accept my apologies for replying in a different direction than your question intended.
That being said, I am glad to tag a fellow advocate in your thread in hopes he is able to give you more direction as you make your decision.is a skin cancer physician and brings an entirely different perspective to the table.
We are glad to have you as a member of the community. Please know that you are never alone on this journey.
All my best,
April, SkinCancer.net, Moderator
Hi
, I wanted to thank you for sharing your question in our forum. It must be extremely frustrating to have opted for brachytherapy and experience complications, and now having to reconsider Mohs which can also come with complications. I’m sure you have a lot on your mind with those considerations right now. Our apologies for giving a lot of information on Mohs to you. I think there was a misunderstanding when you mentioned you were reconsidering Mohs that we just wanted to make sure you were armed with as much knowledge about it as possible to help make your decision easier, whichever way you chose to go. We're sorry for the misunderstanding.
In regards to our parent company, Health Union, we are not part of a drug company. We are independently owned and while we do have ads on the site, in order to continue bringing content and resources to our community for free, those ads are always clearly marked as “sponsored” or “advertisement”. It’s important to know that our advertisers do not dictate any of the content on our site. If you’d like to learn more about our parent company please visit us at Health-Union.com/faqs. Again, apologies for the misunderstanding. We hope to continue to see you around in the community Nogales!
Warmly,
Sidney, Moderator
