21 Oct Basal Cell Carcinoma and My Mohs Surgery Experience
My Basal Cell Carcinoma and my Mohs Surgery experience
There was a time that I believed that tanning gives us a “healthy glow”…🧐 NOPE . I now know different. This is what tanning does for your “health”
Tanning give you …
Wrinkles
Brown age spots
Dry brittle leather looking skin
And skin cancers that disfigure you. Yuck.
I stopped tanning decades ago. Now it is important to point out that I am 48 now and have not tanned in YEARS BUT in my teens and twenties I was fully addicted to that tan. I thought it made me look healthy and I loved the way that it felt! I would lay in a pool for hours and float away my summer days with baby oil on my skin. I would also use tanning beds on those days that the sun was not out.
I remember my mom warning me and I dismissed it thinking middle age was so far away. More on my years of tanning here
Boy, I sure wish I had listened to mom about tanning!
A few weeks ago, I had a Mohs procedure to remove a tiny dot next to my eye. That tiny dot was basal cell carcinoma that had been growing on my face for 3 years. I was told by an esthetician that it was “nothing” and I believed her. I do not blame her, I blame myself for not asking a dermatologist and ignoring it for the several years to follow.
My dermatologist found it and set me straight and a recent skin check appointment.
I am one of the lucky ones. Where Mohs can be an all day process going back in for more and more my surgeon got it all out in one step. Mine was a one step process that left me with bandages and stitches will remain for 7 days and then a scar that will slowly fade.
It had been a rough month facing this (for me) .. I know I’m more than my face and I was super scared of what I would look like after this.
I practiced while waiting for the procedure living and walking through what I teach:
Surrendering
Letting go of control
Knowing this happened for me not to me
Reflecting on why my “face” is so important to my persona
Eating, thinking and moving with what I know heals.
Taking arnica and bromelain and pre surgical vitamins to reduce the risk of bruising and swelling. (Side note, THIS worked big time!) I bruised slightly day one and then it disappeared. There was NO swelling and 8 days later you could barely tell I had anything done. Today, I’m grateful for this happening and so many new thoughts and lessons from this experience.
Now the PSA part:
Wear sunblock
Wear wide brimmed hats
Stay out of tanning beds
Get your small skin spots checked
Drop the nonsense that the tanning is healthy for you.
Yes vitamin D comes from the sun but that’s 15 minutes in the sun not baking in it all day.
For those of you curious about the Mohs procedure and what it all looked like I am going to share the various steps of my process below.
BEFORE it was diagnosed it was SO small and barely noticeable for three years! It looked just like a very small dry skin colored bump
Here it is the basal cell carcinoma closer up. It was SO SMALL! Just a small circle of dry skin that was skin colored.
The hole that was removed (a lot bigger than the basal cell carcinoma spot) The lines drawn are where my surgeon marked to pull skin from my nose to cover the hole
NOTE it looks like it switched sides. It did not. The reason for the flip of sides is some images are selfies and some are one that were taken of me. It has always been on my right eye.
How I left that day after the mohs procedure…
they took skin from my nose and moved it over the spot that was removed.
AND exactly 9 days after the Mohs procedure it is barely noticeable!
All in all the Mohs Surgery was not nearly as crazy as google had me thinking it would be! Here are the reasons I believe the procedure was smooth and recovery was fast.
- A GREAT surgeon. I went to dr. Jeffrey Eaton in Del Mar California
- My nutrition is on point. I eat an unprocessed natural food diet full of anti inflamatory foods and nourishing antioxidants. I believe the way that I eat (grain, dairy and sugar free for the most part) had a LOT to do with the slow growth of the tumor and the fast recovery. How I eat can be found in my aging in reverse book here
- The supplements I use daily here and the ones I added pre surgery for two weeks. The ones I use daily are HERE and the ones I ADDED two weeks prior are : Arnica, Bromaline and vitamin K. Vitamedica makes a GREAT pre surgical vitamin pack
- Mindset. This may sound woo woo to some but I spent almost an hour a day for two weeks leading up the surgery (Joe Dispenza style) visualizing the tumor leaving my body!
Did you find this helpful? Please share so it will help others as well!
I would also love to chat with you more on my INSTAGRAM, my FACEBOOK or inside my Aging In Reverse Community!
XO,
Natalie Jill
