Basal cell carcinoma?

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About 8 years ago, I started noticing a tiny rough patch of skin on the side of my nose (by my eye). It would almost become like a little spot I could peel off, but tiny and virtually colourless. It would just grow back. I honestly have never thought anything of it because it’s not a mole or anything.
A few months ago I noticed another on my forehead. Like a patch of dry skin that I peel off and it disappears for a day or two and then comes back.

Yesterday my father has just been diagnosed with a basal cell carcinoma and is awaiting to have it cut out (his is like a mole). But he came home from his appointment with a little booklet about skin cancers and I started reading it while I was waiting for my coffee to be done. I was quite shocked to find that one of signs of a basal cell carcinoma is a patch of dry skin that keeps recurring.

Do I need to get these two checked? I’d be quite embarrassed to because they are virtually invisible, but you can feel them easily. I’ve had one of these for 8 years!

Hi there.

I think you should get them checked by your GP. If it's difficult to get a face to face appointment there then you could send clear photos.

The main message is that you should not panic or be unduly worried. BCCs are fairly common, and by far the least serious of the skin cancers. Many of us here have had them removed. I had one on the side of my face removed about 5 years ago, and now the scar is barely visible. Mine was like a small persistent spot/bump for several years before I had it looked at.

So, don't worry unduly but do the sensible thing and ask your GP to take a look at it 👍

I would get them checked, if they are superficial BCC or actinic keratosis they may be treated with Efudex cream.

Yes, get them checked.
Don't panic though, even if it is BCC, 5 years is well below the usual timescale for them to spread which is decades, if at all.

My dermatology consultant doesn't even really regard BCCs as skin cancer any more, she says. The clinic will remove them on request, and they do a very neat job, but there's an acceptance these days that they're not especially dangerous.

Also, the standard approach is to bypass biopsy and go straight to complete incision (and to pathology lab).

I was initially surprised by this, but I've read a lot about it and feel reassured. I've had three removed and thought I was facing decades of endless removals; but I'm now pretty sure that most of them can stay, given that the ones tested were discrete, fairly undeveloped, and non-problematic.

Thank you for your replies. I’ll get them looked at, just in case. I just feel daft because they are so ridiculously small and insignificant!

Don’t worry if they are tiny. I had a tiny one looked at and they still biopsied it.

They didn't biopsy mine. They just removed it.

Look on the bright side! If it is BCC then afterwards you'll be entitled to free prescriptions :-)

I have exactly the same thing, same location, same time frame! How strange! My GP referred me to dermatology on a 2 week wait because it specifically fell under "non-healing" (be sure to mention this to your GP alongside family history). Dermatologist took a look and said it was absolutely nothing to worry about. Could be actinic keratosis, could be sun damage, but the upshot was it's basically nothing. Fingers crossed for you too.

ETA mine is basically invisible too. I had to draw the pen circle myself because the technician couldn't see it to take a photo, and then in my appointment the dermatologist said "we can't biopsy something we can't see", which would have been dismissive had I not been so relieved hah.

Really?? I didn’t know that!

Free prescriptions for what?