Friend of mine has basel cell carcinoma diagnosed on face. Has anyone seen Dr Raj Mallipeddi (London)?

[orangina]

Hi there.....

Friend of mine diagnosed with basel cell carcinoma on her nose this week, which she is trying to deal with. Wondered if anyone had experience of this, and/or seen Dr Raj Mallipeddi in London (operates out of various provate hospitals and St Thomas's....).

Any feedback greatly appreciated!

Many thanks.

No idea abou the doctor, but my mum had this a couple of years ago, the good news is it's a totally non-invasive cancer, and never spreads, so the treatment is just removal. My mum had a skin graft to cover the site (was by her eye so slightly tricky), and result is v good. She was done NHS, with a consultant plastic surgeon.

Thanks for that LilyBolero.... good to hear there was such a good result aesthetically as well as removal of the cancer itself...

As Lily says, BCCs are really easy to deal with - some are removed surgically, and some (esp on the nose) will be treated with radiotherapy as it's hard to get a nice effect with surgery there. It's very localised, and has no more side effects than making the area sore until it heals.

I've treated lots over the years, and DGMIL has had quite a few treated in different ways. You'd never notice the area on her nose (RT), and she tried to persuade the Dr doing the surgery to remove one by her eye to give her an eyelift - she's 97...

Haha CMOTdibbler! Good on her!

So you are a medical then are you? I think the problem with my friend's case is that she has been in some kind of gentle denial for years about this thing on her nose, so (as I understand), it will require surgery to ensure that it is all removed. Just the biopsy has left rather a grim wound (was done just a few days ago).

I'm not a doctor, but a radiotherapy specialist.

St Thomas' is a good hospital, and I'm sure she's in good hands there. BCCs can get big if left untreated, so in the circs, surgery sounds totally appropriate.

Brilliant, thanks so much CMOT. Have heard that St Thomas's has good skin unit (St Johns), so hopefully she is in good hands.

The Royal London also has a very good reputation although the place itself is a hovel.

I've got a skin graft below my eye too, due to BCC, I had skin taken from behind my ear , about the size of a 10 pence piece.
The worst bit was having a dressing stitched to my face for a week, it looked like a yellow furry caterpillar!

I've also had one removed from my face, near the corner of my eye. The surgeon decided not to do a skin graft but packed the hole (about the size of a penny in diameter)with a special kind of dressing which I think was made from seaweed. There was a normal bandage dressing over top to keep it clean. It was a bit scary to look at first when I was changing the external dressing and I had to wear a snorkel mask to keep it dry when I showered, but it healed beautifully and the end result was excellent.

Hi i had micrograhic surgery with Dr Raj Mallipeddi in June this year. I went to the St Johns Institute Of Dermatology at St Thomas'London. He is the top man in this field. I had a bcc on my nose,i didnt have a skin graft but do have a scar .

me12, thanks so much for your input, and everyone else too. My friend is v worried about scarring (I think this is so she doesn't have to think about the health aspects of it all.....)... would you say your scar is quite noticeable?