When my mother was 86 she was diagnosed with the same thing and had to wait a year before being operated on. I know this is not very reassuring or helpful but just to let you know you are not the only one who has had to wait a long time. Hope you get sorted out soon. By the way she was 95 when she died and nothing to do with cancers.

Thanks so much. I'm 57. I'm now in month 9. It's on the bridge of my nose and is now 1cm. It's growing quickly. I've been referred by the plastic surgeon to Maxilofacial in an NHS hospital and even though it's classed as urgent, there is a 44 week wait. I'm an band 6 NHS nurse and I am totally ashamed of the NHS. It is not fit for purpose and should be scrapped from the top down. 

If I see another Royal or Celebrity bang on about how they've had their skim cancers removed within a week I think I'll tell them my story.

What is the point of all this skin cancer as advertising when there is zero Services in place.

I am so angry.

Wondering how you got on. I went private for an excision, got it done early June by a plastic surgeon and my nose has quite a dent. It's on my profile and looks horrible. I've also got a 2nd lesion, which I told the surgeon about but he said deal with primary one. So I've now paid, my nose is a mess, and I still have a lesion. Quite a dent on my profile and now thinking I must be in similar situation as you. Surgeon seems to think it's 'normal', and that it is because my skin is producing more scar tissue than it should 'at my age'. i'm hoping your dent filled out a bit, or that it has somehow overall improved?

Hello whonose and thanks for your post,

I have decided to reply to your post as it is 5 months since dave2024 posted and he may not get back to you.

I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy with your treatment and you are still left with a lesion on your nose.

It is difficult to know what to suggest with out being involved in your care but you could consider talking it through with your GP to see what they advise.

As you went privately for the first excision there is always the option of asking for a second opinion

I can understand that in some cases a lot of tissue has to be removed to get rid of the cancer and some patients do produce more scar tissue then others.

I do hope that as time goes on the scar will become less visible.

I wish you all the best,

Catherine

Thanks Catherine. Yes, I'm awaiting follow up having seen the GP. Was hoping Dave might return (has only been 3 months) and have a positive story. Perhaps his scar improved, might give me hope meanwhile and obviously hope he's doing better too. :)

Hi there,

I'm so sorry for the delay in my reply.  I'm an NHS nurse myself and have not had any days off for ages.

I'm so sorry about your experience with the removal. I'm afraid to say my situation is kind of the same. I had 1.5cm removed on the right side bridge of nose and although everyone says they can't notice anything, I can, especially from my profile.

On my return visit 3 weeks after to the NHS maxilofacial Dr he said I was wrongly diagnosed and there was no cancer present. I needn't have had the tissue removed. If the private company whom the NHS referred me initially had not forgotten about me for months and treated it with cream, whatever the lesion was wouldn't have grown.

They cannot say what it was but I believed for months I had a BCC but the Dermatologist misinterpreted my first biopsy report apparently.

I had been living with the belief that I had skin cancer for months.

The Consultant promised me a proper reconstruction before I agreed to go ahead and on my return he said "oh it's fine, give it time" he did not want to know. I have a follow up in 6 months but no doubt that will be forgotten about unless I chase it. 

I've always struggled with Rosacea and even as a man wear concealer as I am so conscious, this has made it far worse in that area. 

I raised an official complaint with the private company who actually owned up to all their errors. I'm now sueing the NHS through a local solicitor for negligence and he believes I have a good case.

I too asked about other lesions on my face and his reply was "oh just leave them for now, you don't want to get cut into again do you"!!!

I actually despair of healthcare in this country and I've asked for early retirement as cannot cope even working in such a broken system as cannot care for my patients properly and it's soul destroying. I am very hopeful that eventually the new Labour government with piece it back together, that's my only hope.

I do hope yours gets better in time. I guess it's just something we'll have to get used to and manage.

Kindest regards and take much care,

Dave.

Don't apologise for taking your time, people have busy lives and I was just hoping you might see it and reply with a more positive outcome. I'm sorry things haven't gone very well for you. I'm more shocked that they offered you reconstruction then took that back. I hope maybe at your follow up you will get any further treatment you need. 

Funnily enough, I asked the surgeon about my other lesion and the answer was sort of similar - 'old scar tissue and new scar tissue eew'. But what can I do if I have another lesion (which I feel is likely to be bcc since I've been confirmed as having one). I'm still in the system and actually got a derm appointment soon (I phoned and they had a cancellation!). Hopefully that will give me some answers on the way forward. 

You should pursue the reconstruction if you feel strongly about it. I'm really struggling with mine, hard to be amongst people, who I'm sure will notice something is wrong. Even hard to watch TV with people who have normal noses! I really just hope they can do something for it. 

Wish you a positive way forward of some sort and sorry to hear it's not gone well. :( Take care.

Thanks so much.

I really don't hold out much hope of a construction as they will just view it as cosmetic but I will most certainly push.

It's not particularly the redness that bothers me, it's the dent, I can cover the redness.

However, I'm the kind of person who tries to accept the things I cannot change, so I'll just accept that this is my new konk. It's huge anyway, always had been, the times I've been asked if I'm related to Barry Manilow is unreal haha. I was hoping for a full on nose job but no chance.

I'm 57, everything else is falling apart so I've just added this to the list.

Try not to focus in on it, people genuinely probably don't notice as most people are so wrapped up in themselves to notice us.

I hope you manage to get better treatment than I've had. I really want to know what the lesion was, I'm not convinced it wasn't sinister but I'm just being very careful in the sunshine, he says lying in the garden after work!

Let me know how you get on. I'll always reply on here eventually.

Take much care, Dave 

It's not cosmetic though if it's reconstruction, which is different and I'm sure you know this really.. Cosmetic is when you are just trying to improve your appearance, this is following surgery, so it's not the same thing. I'm laughing at the nose thing though as I also have a big nose, so perhaps why it makes it worse. I wouldn't dare get a nose job though, I'm not good with medical things so wouldn't been up for cosmetic surgery!! I'm the same with the dent/redness situation. My dent is visible from the front without makeup as it's got a sort of 'dogear' at the top, but makeup definitely lessens it. I've got a 2mm wide 'score' down the centre where it split. This is reasonable to cover with makeup, but don't think it's just a case of me scarring excessively as my stitches were loose and there was a 2mm gap between the skin. 

I'm glad you've not got the worry of the sun so much. I always enjoyed the sunshine but this has made me terrified. Has been quite a different summer for me this year (not that the weather has been great). 

Yes you're right, it's not just cosmetic is it.

I'll do my best.

My nose has developed a whistle too, you couldn't make it up! With it being so big I could actually be in a band. I daren't breathe out loudly when there's silence. Dogs run to me!

I waited 12 months for a camera to go up it and they found the right side has a deviated septum, goodness knows how's that's happened but I'm very clean living, no EastEnders business with me.

I've got an appointment with a surgeon in September!

I too live for the sunshine, I now wear a massive hat and cover up etc. They said the lesion was probably sun related due to my years of sun bed use years ago.

We'll get there, oh to be young again. Youth is wasted on the youth.

Well you might have lost a bit of your nose but you still have your sense of humour!

Alarmingly similar though, I've also felt like I've got a bit of a whistle and blocked at one side (though this was noticed when first doing covid tests). I assumed polyps, but maybe we're nose twins. haha

September won't be long. Please do make your point and maybe leave the humour out in case they think you're joking about it bothering you. 

Haha, oh believe me, my humour stops faster than a bullet through Trump's thick ear when I'm dealing with the NHS, I will indeed!

I hope you get on well too

Haha, oh believe me, my humour stops faster than a bullet through Trump's thick ear when I'm dealing with the NHS, I will indeed!

I hope you get on well too

Wondered if you got any further. I had an appointment with dermatology about my 2nd lesion but they said I've to wait 6 months for some healing before looking at it again. I'm booked back in to see them. Still got my dent, sometimes I think it looks slightly better. Dermatologist said it will improve in the 6-9 month period after surgery, so that's December onwards. Hope things are improving for you. 

Hi there,

Many thanks for asking. My bump is the same. I've decided to leave it all now. I haven't had a follow up appointment as they promised and I cannot be bothered to keep chasing it. I've decided to accept the things I cannot change. 

I can't have any more time off work either.

Unless we're rich or Royal in the country we're just left with the scraps of a completely broken health service.

I was very hopeful that Labour would have some innovative strategies to fix it but clearly they are all in it for themselves too with all the freebies etc. I'm very disappointed with Wes Streeting.

It doesn't bother me now really.

I do hope yours continues to settle down.

If you fancy a job as a duo in a circus just let me know hahaha.

Kindest regards 

Dave