Hi Dawn, no unfortunately it’s still taking up major head space. Bad week last week, hardly slept which then made me feel unwell. The thought of having a skin graft on the top/end of my nose is giving me major anxiety. It’s not just being awake whilst the operation is happening but getting my head around living with scars and marks right in the centre of my face with no option to hide it. The thought of just returning to work a week or so later fills me with dread. 

Do you know what the routine screening appointment will consist of? I’m pleased to hear you have a date for this next phase. 

Hi lou 

It is a lot to get your head around. The procedure while you are awake will be OK the team will put you at ease and there will be no pain. You can ask beforehand  for a mild sedative. A post earlier by Hippyginger says she has a scar the size of 50p and is not worried and will wear her facial scar with pride. Im not so brave and very self consious of  having 5 such large scars on my face forehead and scalp two of them 50mm and try to hide them. There is a charity called changing faces 

https://www.changingfaces.org.uk/

Who may have info you find useful on concealing scars.  

I also have a scar on the side of my nose from a skin graft but this is hardly visible the plastic surgeon was exremely skilled. The scars do fade with time and your family and work colleagues will not notice after a very short while even if both you and I do. Main thing is to prevent any more lesions by protecting your skin. Wishing you the best for your procedure.

Ed

 Farmer_Ed thank you for your reply. If ok with you are you able to tell me how the healing process went after your skin graft. Did you have to leave the area exposed or did you cover it over with gel pads to help the healing? Did the new skin look raised or is it flattened to be in line with the surrounding skin? I’ve had the most awful thoughts going round in my head with visions of my nose looking like a patch work quilt. 
Thank you for the link to Changing faces I will definitely take a look at this. 
Hope you are keeping well, sounds like you have been through many challenging times. 

Hi Lou

Like you I had a BCC lesion. Id had it for 30 years I thought it was a wart but  it had started to grow so got it checked out. The skin graft to the side my nose was a full thickness graft which was taken from the skin on my face just in front of my ear. So the scar is level with the surrounding skin and the skin shade is a very close match. It is barely noticable now but was for 9 months or so. The scar on the donor site whick was stitched back together it is nearly invisible now. The dressing was kept on for 7 days during which time it had to be kept dry, tricky with not washing hair and not putting head under shower. Safer to take a bath if you have one. Take great care of the graft in the coming weeks. Including not doing vigourous excercise or bending down which can increase the blood pressure in the newly forming blood vessels and damage them. The nurses at the plastic surgery unit took dressing off to check if graft had taken and to look for infection then replaced a temporary dressing to be kept on for a further 5 days which I then removed myself.  The donor site was treated the same.  For the large SCC lesions I had removed on my forehead and scalp where a split thickness graft was used, there is a slight depression where the lesion was removed and the paper thin graft was stiched on. The dressing was stapled in place to keep it from moving, it has a spongy feel to it. The same instructions apply in keeping it dry etc. The donor site for these was the top of my thigh and this was very tender for around six weeks with the dressing being kept on for 14 days. It takes around a year for the redness to fade away. The donor site for your nose may be your neck and I have no experience of this. Once healed gently massage  moisturiser to the scar daily it will stop the graft drying out keep it supple and improve the visual appearance and avoid the sun.

The plastic surgeons do their very best to do a neat job and a successful outcome. I'm sure makeup can do a good job of covering the scar but as an old fellow I would be uneasy wearing makeup. Changing faces can help out but the wait for an appointment can be a very long time and you can probably do skin colour matching yourself.

The screening appointment is just a health check, blood pressure, weight,  they ask questions like do you smoke are you on blood thinners etc. If you do smoke try quitting now as it severely reduces the chance of the skin graft taking.

I hope this is of some help and I wish you a successful outcome for the surgery ahead.

Ed

Hi Ed, another facial bcc patient here. I initially was seen by my local dermatology / plastic surgery team but they didn’t offer me Mohs surgery… I saw another dermatologist privately, a Mohs expert, and he referred me to the hospital where he does his NHS work, but it’s a long waiting list.
Thanks so much for detailing your experiences, it’s so helpful to hear ‘true life’ stories rather than generalities.