I'm about ready to cry over my experiences with doctors. This is cancer, and he didn't even see it when I first went in over a year ago specifically to have it looked at, nor did he see it in two general screenings.
I'm sure it's frustrating to you. Is there a cancer center anywhere near you? Go right to the experts if you can. Though it still puzzles me that a dermatologist can't handle something as common as BCC.
Ironically, in the old days, the dermatologists were the smartest doctors in the country, as the top medical students got first dibs on residencies. Dermatology was often chosen as in those days, doctors still made hospital rounds, got calls at night, etc., but the derms did not. They also seldom cured a patient and would keep acne going for years, while seldom losing a patient, and if they got a serious case, it was often handed off to another specialty like oncology. That may be what this guy is doing. Smart does mean competent or ambitious.
That is what Lon Tanner always said that the doctor did with him, and that they did a radiation burn that took care of everything right at the doctor’s office. He said that it was just a short appointment. He must have had several of them, because he was always talking about having the skin cancer removed by his dermatologist.
I have often said that I would love to live in a different time if I could take toilet paper and modern medicine with me. I think I'll be packing lighter for that trip.
I mentioned I worked for a lady who had the same experience. She would go during work hours for a doctor visit and return with a bandage over the site. But I don't know if the type/size/location has anything to do with it. What's ironic is that with the stuff I've had going on in the past few years (most of it self-remediating or livable), I was glad to have dermatologist visits because I expected nothing to come of them. Yeh. Right.
John, I just read this thread. Good luck with the docs. I've been going to my current GP since 2004 and I've noticed a change in care, although subtle. Being de facto government employees now, their incentives have changed.
I agree with Beth. Find another dermatologist. Don't let this progress as it can go deep. Any dermatologist nurse practitioner can cut this off. I have had BC cell spots as big as a quarter cut off in the office with success. It sounds like your doc is either doubting his abilities or trying to generate business for a surgeon.
Sorry you’re having so many problems with your doctor John. In a way, I can sort of relate but in a different way. My nose is one that people look at and wonder what the heck is going on with it. I’ve had kids point and some brave adults even ask why my nose is shaped the way it is. It’s known typically as being a W.C. Field’s nose but it’s not because it’s doesn’t have a lot of busted purple looking veins. It’s extremely wide and bulbous as though I took a huge punch in the face (which I have had) and there are callus like bubbles which appear and generally go away or fall off eventually. The thing is, only one doctor has made a mention of it even though I’ve seen 3 different dermatologists for other reasons. No one has asked to take tests or wants to examine the thing but most generally steer their eyes away, I guess thinking if they do that it’ll disappear or something. The doctor who did ask about it I said I don’t know but I think it’s related to Rosacea. All he did after that was to shrug his shoulders and finished my health examination. One cosmetic surgeon I saw explicitly for my nose was many years ago and he told me that nope, there’s nothing that can be done. He said that even if they literally sanded the thing down and reshaped what needed to be reshaped, in a matter of a few years it would return to something similar to what I started with. He also told me that I do NOT have a W.C. Field’s nose which is generally related to drinking hard alcohol but rather a glandular problem because of extremely high testosterone levels. Basically, he told me that I’d be wasting my money which I did at least thank the good doctor for not being money hungry.
They guy may have referred me to a surgeon because it's gone on for over a year due to his incompetence. Dammit.
No but it’s the closest thing that looks the way my nose does. Rosacea is pretty much curable or at least controllable whereas no matter what I do or what is done it will always come back more or less the way it is.
John, Sorry to hear about your medical condition and the medical incompetents you experiencing. I understand the frustration we've been through doctors incompetence twice in the last 2 years. Find a new doctor that you're comfortable with who has the credentials. You will be in my thoughts and prayers hang in there. Tony
my husband has those....had one removed thru the moh's surgery technique...others showed up...we use eggplant extract...and aloe vera