Suspected Squamous Cell Carcinoma

[ThePeewit]

Just want to rant a bit.
I went to the GP in January with a spot that wouldn't heal, saw a nurse practitioner who said she was confident it wasn't sinister. Two weeks later she said the same but didn't know what it was so referred me for teledermatology. I had to wait five weeks to get the appointment at the GP for the pictures. They went off to an outsourced company and a dermatologist said suspect SCC referral for 2ww. Dermatology is entirely outsourced to private companies here and I spent days chasing the company responsible for seeing me. Four weeks later I finally got my appointment only to find that it was just another triage appointment. I assumed they would do a biopsy because I am high risk for various reasons. But no, they hadn't even looked at the report done by the first company. Now I have to wait again for another appointment for a biopsy.

I am so sorry and hope this gets sorted out quickly. I’m not in the UK but have been following for quite awhile and have read that you can contact “PALS” if you’re having problems with healthcare? Wishing you the best and hoping it’s not scc. We’re in the US. My daughter has a friend with it (stage 4). Her insurance denied her surgery because they said it was “elective”!!!

Are you able to go to see a private plastic surgeon? I had one cut out a couple of years ago. You don't even need to get a referral.

You’d know if it was an SCC by now, they grow rapidly

I probably would have done that before if I hadn't blindly accepted the assurance from the nurse practitioner at the GP surgery that it wasn't sinister. I doubt it would speed things up much now.

@PALS are for hospital and this is a clinic. The NHS outsources some things like dermatology and cataracts for example to private companies

@justmeandthedogs I didn't know that.
I actually didn't think it was SCC and hopefully it's not. However when I had a breast lump I was confident it wasn't breast cancer and it was.

SCCs are really nasty - they double in size within a week. BCCs are still skin cancer but not as bad. In my trust we aim to get them removed within 36 weeks of diagnosis

@justmeandthedogs that's interesting and a positive sign.
It hasn't grown in size in the six months since it appeared. It came up overnight six months ago and I thought it was an infected spot. When I realised it wasn't healing I went to the GP. In that time the only change is that it doesn't hurt as much as it did at first.

I had a spot on my arm and a dermatologist told me she thought it was squamous cell carcinoma. I was referred for a biopsy. The surgeon who took the biopsy thought it was a basal cell carcinoma. When the results came back it was a benign nodular hidradenoma.

Sounds like something similar to what my mum had. Hers cleared up with sudocrem so she’s off to derm next week to have to tell them that 😬

When I had concerns about an area on my face, I booked an appointment with a plastic surgeon, he examined it and said he was convinced it was an SCC, and removed it that day. Sent it off for a biopsy to confirm he has removed it all.

@justmeandthedogs I tried all the usual - sudocreme (magic stuff!), anti fungal, betnovate so none of those worked. It has improved slightly over time though but is still sore and cracked.