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New SCC diagnosis

clh84
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I'm 38 and have just been told a small lump I had removed on my forehead is an moderately differentiated SCC. I had it removed within 8 weeks of it appearing but now I've been advised that I need further surgery to take a bit more skin form around it. I'm struggling with the mental side of things and catastrophising. I've read that although there is more chance of it spreading than a BCC, it's still quite rare to spread. I'm wondering if there are any statistics for how often these spread or if I can reassure myself somehow that this is not necessarily the end! 

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    Hello clh84 and a warm welcome to Cancer Chat, 

    I can understand why you are finding this difficult mentally - it's always hard to receive a diagnosis like this but as you said, the chances of SCC spreading are slim. Our website has useful information on SCC and mentions that "SCCs don't often spread. If they do, it's most often to the deeper layers of the skin. They can spread to nearby lymph nodes and other parts of the body, but this is unusual." It's good that you have now been diagnosed and that this can be closely monitored.

    I hope that this further surgery will work well and that you will hear from other members of our forum who have had a similar diagnosis before. I had a little look on the forum and found this thread by  whose dad was recently waiting to have surgery for SCC on the forehead so it could be a good person for you to connect with. 

    Best wishes, 

    Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

  • Offline in reply to Moderator Lucie

    Yes dad was waiting on surgery but with the scc on skull base it's very risky at the moment. They have decided to go for immunotherapy treatment to kill the cancer cells or shrink it. They have only in the last 2/3 years started to use this treatment for scc skin cancer with very good response on patients. It has not spread to anywhere else thank goodness. My dad has had it near 2 years and last scans showed no spreading around anywhere else. Hope this helps at this worrying time but with scc cancer it is very treatable. Hope all goes well for you

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