Degrees Of Change
Basal cell carcinomas usually require quite minor surgery, squamous cell carcinoma and early stage melanoma can often be cured without too much intervention.
They still benefit from being treated by a consultant who is more than a surgeon. One with knowledge of cosmetic techniques, who takes this aspect into consideration in every action they make during surgery.
The skill used in initially removing a lesion can help control reconstructive requirements. This applies to all cases and particularly for later stage cancers, where ensuring a cure may have brought greater tissue damage.
Removing your cancer is the key, yet even where this was life threatening, returning to normality is a natural wish. Our skin cancer surgeons want to see this happen for all their patients.
Reconstructive Techniques
Techniques may be used alone, or in combination, cosmetic surgery needs for each case are unique. There are however approaches which are often used.
Skin Grafting – A skin graft requires careful lifting of an area of healthy skin, from a donor site on your body. This is used to repair the area where cancer has been removed.
Small skin grafts are often full thickness, consisting of the thin outer epidermis and thicker dermis. The graft can be taken from a place where there is an excess of healthy skin, such as behind your ears.
Larger areas tend to involve moving thinner layers, with just part of the dermis. More of the dermis is left at the donor site, perhaps your thigh, allowing this to heal within a couple of weeks.
Flap Surgery – Flap surgery, as the name suggests requires surgically raising a flap of tissue, whilst still attached to the body (and blood supply) which is drawn across to repair an area where cancer has been removed.
Moving, or rotating nearby tissue in this way, to whatever depth is needed, is known as local flap surgery. An alternative is called free flap surgery.
Tissue from a different part of your body is transplanted to the required place and the blood supply is maintained by microsurgical connection to blood vessels near the wound you are covering.
Follow Up Treatment
All reconstructive surgery is carried out by experienced consultants, under safe conditions. Healing will generally be uneventful, although taking care and cleanliness still make sense.
The best way to look after a healing wound will be discussed, along with any pain management issues. Removal of stitches, replacement of dressings, or other support will naturally be organised to suit.
Longer term follow up may be helpful, to ensure ideal healing, check for recurrence, or fresh onset of other skin conditions. Providing any information, or support you wish for is equally important throughout and after treatment.
Information brings confidence and is part of effective reconstructive surgery. By all means get in touch to discuss how our team can help.
