Basal cell carcinoma

[BatFacedGirl]

I'm almost certain my husband has one of these on his forehead. I'm not a doctor (only in another life) but it's absolutely identical to google image pictures and I'd be amazed if it was anything else. A small ish colourless spot mainly. It's grown in the past week and he's had it a fortnight

I take it he needs to see a doctor? What do they do? And do I need to panic

A doctor is a good plan but don't panic, if it is a BCC it can be removed fairly easily, my mum has had one cut out and my dad had one frozen off. Although they are classed as a cancer they aren't dangerous in the way most cancers are.

You absolutely of course need to see the Dr. Only they can help by referring him to get it properly checked out by a qualified specialist.

Any skin lesion that appears, or changes, or frankly any skin lesion you are even the slightest bit worried about needs checking. Always. Don’t ever even doubt.

Get him to the docs ASAP. If it is a BCC they will likely just make an appt to whip it off and have a pathologist check it, because it’s actually almost impossible to be 100% sure without that.
If it is a BCC they rarely progress unless left - but they always need looking at and checking for the reasons above.

(If it is BCC) they remove it (scalpal) & see if it grows back or grows elsewhere.
They almost never grow back.

Try not to worry.

Sometimes they go deeper than they look so the actual incision/excavation can go deep. Extreme cases might need plastic surgery afterwards (My aunt).

Thanks guys

So umm nobody dies from this then? As a rule?

I'll make sure he makes an appointment Tuesday. It's a recent thing and I noticed it had grown today and it suddenly occurred to me what it was.

He spends a lot of time outdoors as he's a semi pro golfer and although he wears sunscreen etc it's probably not enough

My dad was told they were the least dangerous of all skin cancers to get and if that’s what your DH has got and he gets it looked at early he will be fine.

BCCs are pretty slow growing IIRC, so if it's changing as quickly as you describe it might not be that. Even if it is, they're pretty easy to manage. Get him to see GP who'll be in a better position to diagnose it properly.

As a rule no. Some dobprogress but not fast.

However it’s essential he gets it. He led properly. Bcc are usually very slow growing so a lesion that’s grown and changed recently has to have a check.