Skin Cancer Ate My Nose!
I started off a free afternoon last fall by getting a facial at a swanky spa, and I ended up two months, three surgeries, and $107,000 later with a new nose. And I am immensely grateful because that facial may have saved my life by triggering a dramatic reaction in a previously undetected skin cancer.
It is still hard for me, an accomplished hypochondriac, to believe I missed something that was right in front of my nose. Or more precisely, on the side of it, but the spot was all but invisible to the naked eye.
My facial that afternoon was uneventful until the esthetician swiped the exfoliating wand across my right nasal ala, the soft cartilage on either side of the nose. It hurt. A lot. She stopped, looked closely through her lighted magnifying glass, and saw nothing. Perhaps a tiny, “pin-dot-sized” pimple was forming under the surface of my skin, she suggested.
Within a few days, that nearly invisible pin dot below my skin’s surface had grown into a clearly visible red bump well above my skin’s surface. And within two weeks, my dermatologist was delivering a diagnosis of invasive squamous cell skin cancer that was consuming my ala with terrifying swiftness.
The very next day I underwent three rounds of Mohs surgery to remove that ravenous beast of a tumor. By the time the skillful Mohs surgeon attained completely clear margins all around, there was nothing left but a gaping hole where my ala used to be. It was not pretty, but as a humor writer, I felt obligated to lighten the mood for all my concerned — and slightly horrified — sympathizers, including the kind-hearted surgeon and her team.
“Hey,” I told them, “my behind is the size of a whale, and now I have a blowhole to match!” I also pointed out the gaping hole would make picking my nose much easier.
As hideous as my nose objectively looked, I was so thankful to have the cancer out I never really focused on how disfigured I might be even after future plastic surgery repairs. Unlike basal cell skin cancer, squamous cell can spread to other parts of the body over time, so more than anything I was relieved to have that tumor out and gone.
My next stop was the plastic surgeon. At the initial consultation, I told him I had realistic expectations. At 66, I wasn’t ready to be a complete troll yet, but I didn’t expect miracles. Yet, that’s exactly what he delivered. Wielding his scalpel like a magic wand throughout eight hours of surgery, he rebuilt the layers of my ala with cartilage from my other nostril and a flap of skin from my cheek. The results are nothing short of stunning. I have a perfect new ala and only a small scar on my cheek that is fading more every day.
My only complaint is he didn’t throw in a free neck lift.
So, while we tend to be more conscious of skin protection in the summer months, I urge everyone to focus on skin health every day. Get regular screenings. Be alert to changes in your skin, no matter how slight. And be vigilant about using high SPF sunscreen and other protection when outdoors, regardless of the season or weather conditions.
Health professionals estimate about 9,500 people in the United States are diagnosed with some form of skin cancer every day, and many won’t be as lucky as I was to receive such timely and expert care — or have the insurance to cover it. I had the best possible outcome, but I would have preferred never to go through what I did.
Skin cancer is cancer and it doesn’t play. An ounce of prevention is surely worth $107,000 of cure.
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