Dermatology

Most hospital clinics will be open on Monday, I would ring them for more information, could be just a normal post op appointment.

I’d be pleased they wanted to check.
It’s proably just routine, but even if it isn’t and they feel they may have to remove a bit more, better to be safe than sorry.
I’m sure if it was something very aggressive they would have him back immediately. I think they did the biopsy on mine almost immediately and if they had found anything sinister would have let me know.
I hope this is the case and it doesn’t spoil your Christmas.

Not had dealings myself but a friends daughter had a mole on her leg checked 6 weeks ago (her second after she had cancerous one removed a couple years ago) and she was called in last week for results. Unfortunately it's the same as first time and she has to have it removed on 5th Jan.

Hope it's nothing nasty for your son but it's good that he's had it checked and if needed treatment is successful.

Yes, removal of BCC's----3 in all at different times in different places. No return visits were necessary but was told they'd return at some point and they have but up to now haven't told the GP as I also have a nasty one on my leg which will need more surgery than I had with the others.

One that I'd had on my forehead needed 8 stitches but you can't see anything and it healed well. That wasn't a particularly nice procedure.

These BCC's are slow-growing cancers of the skin and thousands are removed all the time with our sun getting stronger.

The thing about moles is that if they are cancerous it's usually melanoma. This is a particularly invasive skin cancer and can be quite dangerous if it's not caught early.

EllanVannin

You're quite correct in that BCCs are usually quite slow-growing. They can cause damage to local tissue but don't usually spread beyond the skin. Squamous cell carcinoma, the other form of skin cancer, is similar in that it doesn't usually spread beyond the skin.

The general recommendation is to watch for ABCDE with moles:
Asymmetrical
Borders are irregular
Colour (blue, red, more than one colour)
Diameter greater than a pencil eraser
Elevated off the skin

If you see any of these, you should go see your provider and have it checked out.

If they had found anything nasty they wouldn't have made him wait a month for appointment. He would have been called back in within days of the op when the lab results came in.

Hospitals are 365/24/7 operations. My DF was called scheduled for a minor op on 28 December. That is how hospitals work.

Just checked with a friend who is a doctor, though not in dermatology.

Biopsy results generally take 3 to 4 days to come through. Patients are contacted within 3 days after that if the biopsy shows cancerous cells and the appointment for assessing and beginning treatment is within 10 days after that.

Six week checkups after surgery are routine.

Obviously this is just his hospital. But I hope it gives you some reassurance.

Thank you so much everyone for putting my mind at rest. It just made me panic and thinking alsorts. I will let you all know the results.