The term sounds technical, but it simply means cutting out the chunk of skin surrounding the tumorous growth. Ok, so its not all that simple, especially when its one's own arm.
Luckily, the growth was out in the middle of my forearm and not near any joints, bends, buldging veins, etc. So the Dr had a nice open piece of real estate to work with.
First, he marked off the area to cit with a pen - in the shape of a football with a few millimeters of clear skin on all sides of the growth. He needed to get enough extra skin to ensure that all the basal cells are removed. The removed skin will be biopsied along the edge to determine whether the basal cells extended that far out. The football shape was to make the open area easy to suture.
Next was a few well-placed injections of lidocaine to numb the entire area, then he went to work.
And I got to watch - pretty fascinating to watch someone cutting into your own flesh and not feel a thing!
Using a small scalpel, he cut along the marked boundary and gradually deepened the cut to go through ALL layers of skin. I asked him how he would know and he said it is when he sees fat. Hmmm... OK!
After cleanly cutting the entire boundary, he then cut under the patch to separate it from the body. After removing the patch, about the size of a quarter, he used a little electrical device that resembled a miniature arc-welder to cauterize the few bleeding veins. Surprisingly, there was not nearly as much blood as I would have expected.
The next step was suturing. First he put in one stitch directly across the center of the football area and pulled it tight to close the opening as much as possible. This was done with an absorbable suture, probably catgut. Then he switched to nylon sutures, putting in 4 alond the length of the incision to close the wound. It was really interesting to watch the meticulous technique of putting in each stitch. It was amazing to see how tough my skin was when the pulled on the sutures to tighten the knots.
All done! Afterwards, he applied some kind of adhesive to my skin, then laid a small section of thick gauze directly on top of the stitches, then taped it down with a large piece of gauze-looking tape. He did a second layer of the same. He said with all the adhesive on there, it would not come off. I kind of figure that it will really hurt when its time to pull it off.
He said to leave the bandage on for at least 5 days, then to return tothe office in 10 days to have the stitches removed.
I got to admit, it was a really cool experience, but I do NOT want to go through it again.
From now on, do NOT forget the sunscreen - EVER!
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