Wide excision on temple - Melanoma

Hi,

Was just wondering really if anyone has any experience of having a wide local excision on their temple. Back at the begining of December I had  melanoma diagnosed following the biopsy that was 3.1mm deep and although am still waiting to hear when I will have the wide excision and possible lymph node biopsy, i was just wondering really if anyone had any experience with having one done on the side of thier heads as thinking about it, there doesnt seem much skin there for them to cut down into, just interested in anyones experiences really. Also, does anyone know the time frames that its recommended to have the wide excision done, i've chased it up a number of times however just thinking about the speed that they do the initial excision in two weeks, having now waited 2 months to hear about the appointment for the WLE seems quite a long time so wondering how quickly any one else has had theirs?

  • Hi Luke,

    I have no experience of a WLE on the temple as mine was on my shin.

    With regards to the waiting time for a WLE, pre-Covid a patient would wait about 4 weeks. Sadly, Covid is stretching this waiting time, sometimes up to 12 weeks. Clinicians don't worry about the length of wait for this procedure as they are happy that the melanoma was removed fully in the initial surgery & the WLE is a 'mopping up' exercise. This doesn't help with a patient's anxiety though. If this is causing you great anxiety I would perhaps contact your GP and ask if there is another local hospital that has a shorter waiting list for this procedure. Another option, if you are getting nowhere pinning them down to a date, is to contact PALS at the hospital - sometimes they can help.

    Good luck and please let us know how you get on,

    Angie (melanoma patient)