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Skin Cancer and Lesion Removal
Your Procedure
You have had a skin surgery, such as a skin cancer removal or lesion excision.
What to Expect
You should expect to feel a bit of pain for the first two days. After this, your pain should significantly improve.
Some bleeding at the surgical site is normal, as is bruising. If it is bleeding a lot, place pressure on the area with a towel, or ice pack wrapped in a towel, and keep it applied for 15 minutes. If it does not stop, contact your surgeon’s office or go to the emergency department.
The pathology results from your treatment should be available about 4 weeks after your treatment. Dr. Evans will typically call you with your results after that time. Your referring physician or GP will also receive a copy of the pathology, and it is stored in your electronic medical record.
Scars will be raised and bumpy for several months following your surgery and can take a year to mature. They should be protected from the sun during this time. For specific scar care, please visit the website and look for “Scar care after surgery” on the post-op page.
Surgical Site Care
On the head and face: Sutures can be left open to the air. If you have a light bandage, you may remove it on day 1 and shower. Apply a small amount of polysporin a couple times a day for a week. Sutures may be removable or dissolving, but the care is the same.
On the neck and body: Your sutures may be dissolvable or removable.
For removable sutures, apply a small amount of polysporin and keep the area dry and protected for 5 days before showering lightly.
For dissolving sutures, they are buried under the skin. You will have steri-strips (white tape) over the incision, which is then covered with gauze and a clear plastic water-resistant dressing. You can shower lightly. Leave the dressings on for a week, then remove the clear plastic dressing along with the gauze. The steri strips will remain behind and can stay on while you shower. They fall off after a couple weeks. A small amount of blood or discolouration under the dressing is normal, and the steri-strips often turn a dark brown colour and become hard like a scab.
If your dressing falls off prematurely, apply a bandaid or clean gauze to the site to protect it.
Activity and Care at Home
You should maintain a gentle level of activity until instructed by your doctor. Avoid working out or strenuous activities, hot-tubs or swimming. In most cases, this will be for two weeks or until the site has healed.
You should keep the surgical site elevated above the level of your heart for the first few days. Slings are not needed.
Medications and Pain Management
You will have freezing at the site of your surgery that helps with your pain control. The freezing may last for 1-8 hours. After this, a small amount of pain is normal. When the freezing wears off, it is a good time to start taking your oral pain medication. Pain can usually be controlled with Tylenol alone.
What to watch for / when to call / who to call
Call your doctor’s office, see your GP, or visit the emergency room if you feel acutely unwell, have excessive bleeding, you notice redness extending from the surgical site or if you have a significant fever or significant and increasing pain. If any of the following occur, please call the office:
Increasing pain rather than decreasing pain.
Increased swelling or redness around the surgical site
Fever or chills or you feel acutely unwell.
Foul odour and/or increased drainage from incisions.
Excessive bleeding that is not controlled with pressure.
Even if you plan to go to the emergency please call the surgeon as this may save you considerable time.
Follow-up
You should contact your doctor’s office for a follow-up visit if this has not been discussed or pre-arranged.
The office will usually call you with your pathology results when available (usually after about 4 weeks).
Removable sutures on the face typically are removed after 5-7 days.
Removable sutures on the body are removed after 2 weeks, but on slow-to-heal areas like the foot and ankle, this can be sometimes be 3 weeks or longer.