How often do you get skin checks here?

[xylophone]

Being very fair skinned and having ginger hair and also freckles in my youth, I am susceptible to sunburn in a short space of time and when I worked in Africa (the Sahara desert) sunscreen as we know it now, just wasn't around, so I never used it of course.

 

Now every six months I go to the dermatologist at the hospital here who gives me the once over and often burns off a few solar keratosis spots on mostly my hand and my arms, whilst often giving me a check over.

 

This time however I pointed out to him a small raised spot about the size of a match head which kept coming back on my cheek, no matter what I did with it, so he took a biopsy there and then, which wasn't cheap (22,000 baht) and put a couple of stitches in and told me to come back next week, which I did.

 

He confirmed that it was a basal cell carcinoma and that they had to do a bigger excision to make sure that all of the cancer cells had been removed, so back I went and they removed a piece of skin which was quite deep and about the size of my forefinger, along with a total of eight stitches in all.

 

Went back a few days ago to get the stitches removed and the biopsy result was good in as much as all of the cells had been excised, so another sum of money paid out and just waiting for the wound to completely heal now.

 

Now this little spot I had on my cheek was the most unassuming spot and I would have never picked it as potentially cancerous...... so to all of the oldies on here and especially those who are fair skinned, my advice is to get regular skin checks.

[Harrisfan]

Never done it once.

[scubascuba3]

Not been but did apply aldara 5% cream which beautifully destroyed an ify spot i had on my face, hospitals would have probably lasered or burned it off for thousands

[hotandsticky]

26 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Being very fair skinned and having ginger hair and also freckles in my youth, I am susceptible to sunburn in a short space of time and when I worked in Africa (the Sahara desert) sunscreen as we know it now, just wasn't around, so I never used it of course.

 

Now every six months I go to the dermatologist at the hospital here who gives me the once over and often burns off a few solar keratosis spots on mostly my hand and my arms, whilst often giving me a check over.

 

This time however I pointed out to him a small raised spot about the size of a match head which kept coming back on my cheek, no matter what I did with it, so he took a biopsy there and then, which wasn't cheap (22,000 baht) and put a couple of stitches in and told me to come back next week, which I did.

 

He confirmed that it was a basal cell carcinoma and that they had to do a bigger excision to make sure that all of the cancer cells had been removed, so back I went and they removed a piece of skin which was quite deep and about the size of my forefinger, along with a total of eight stitches in all.

 

Went back a few days ago to get the stitches removed and the biopsy result was good in as much as all of the cells had been excised, so another sum of money paid out and just waiting for the wound to completely heal now.

 

Now this little spot I had on my cheek was the most unassuming spot and I would have never picked it as potentially cancerous...... so to all of the oldies on here and especially those who are fair skinned, my advice is to get regular skin checks.

 

 

It would be helpful to know where "here" is....

[hotandsticky]

1 minute ago, scubascuba3 said:

Not been but did apply aldara 5% cream which beautifully destroyed an ify spot i had on my face, hospitals would have probably lasered or burned it off for thousands

 

Does it work on genital warts?

 

 

(asking for a friend....)

[xylophone]

1 minute ago, scubascuba3 said:

Not been but did apply aldara 5% cream which beautifully destroyed an ify spot i had on my face, hospitals would have probably lasered or burned it off for thousands

Now I come to think about it I did once use Aldara cream for the solar keratosis on the back of my hands, however I don't believe it would have worked on a basal cell carcinoma because of the depth and breadth of it, but thank you for reminding me about the Aldara.

[xylophone]

3 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

 

 

It would be helpful to know where "here" is....

Phuket.

[hotandsticky]

4 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Phuket.

 

Thanks

[bkk6060]

Every 3 or 4 months.  Have had several Basil cell and Squamous.

 

22,000 seems quite high for a biopsy.

[amexpat]

4 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Every 3 or 4 months.  Have had several Basil cell and Squamous.

 

22,000 seems quite high for a biopsy.

Very high. 

[amexpat]

18 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Not been but did apply aldara 5% cream which beautifully destroyed an ify spot i had on my face, hospitals would have probably lasered or burned it off for thousands

Let us know if it turns out it was malignant. 

[msbkk]

I have a similar problem. At least once a year I let a dermatologist do a checkup. I had several basal carcinomas removed in the surgery department and endless pre-cancerous spots removed with liquid nitrogen (frozen off). Aldara cream works only on small pre-cancerous spots, but sometimes does not have any effect. 

[Photoguy21]

Like you I have worked in the Sahara desert and I have never had a check for skin problems

[msbkk]

14 minutes ago, Photoguy21 said:

Like you I have worked in the Sahara desert and I have never had a check for skin problems

In my case it was the sun in Thailand. I went to the sea often. It is recommended to have a checkup at least once in a while. The first time I realized the problem too late and when i finally went to have it checked the growth was too large and had to be surgically removed with stitches. I was lucky because the surgeon told me that normally he had to transplant skin from my leg to my face.

[xylophone]

51 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Every 3 or 4 months.  Have had several Basil cell and Squamous.

 

22,000 seems quite high for a biopsy.

Yes and in my haste to post I omitted to include the fact that I had many (10+) solar keratosis burnt off at the same time with liquid nitrogen, as well as letting the dermatologist have a quick check on my back and neck etc. He also put a couple of stitches in as well.

 

After my second visit he said a greater area had to be treated/excised so sent me to the Plastic Surgeon to carry this out. Now this Dr was great and said that he would treat me and would give me a "special price", which he did and it cost me the same price as the initial biopsy.

 

And of course the hospital charges for everything these days, including taking your BP and all the other paraphernalia which they carry out in order to stack up the bill!

[Nemises]

18 minutes ago, xylophone said:

And of course the hospital charges for everything these days, including taking your BP and all the other paraphernalia which they carry out in order to stack up the bill!

Cheaper (for some) to return to their homeland (whilst visiting family, friends etc) for free skin checks and free subsequent treatment. 

[KhunLA]

Do our own periodically.   Use dry ice for any abnormalities.   Simple enough.

[scubascuba3]

1 hour ago, hotandsticky said:

 

Does it work on genital warts?

 

 

(asking for a friend....)

Apparently so but I'd recommend Podophyllin paint for that

[Upnotover]

Never have, never will.

[Harrisfan]

16 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Apparently so but I'd recommend Podophyllin paint for that

How many did you have?

[TedG]

Yearly, I have a divot on my head from Mohs surgery

[blaze master]

Do you cover up as much skin as possible when outside ? Could help to lessen any worry or damage.

 

Thai are very good at that.

[BLMFem]

I've had a couple of cases of BCC (Basal Cell Carcionoma) and the biopsy and treatment was done in Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, and even though my insurance paid for it I think the bill was something like 5-6000 Baht for biopsy and treatment. It was definitively nothing close to the 22k you paid.

 

I am of course much more vigilant now and have the Mrs check regularly in areas I can't observe, and at least once a year I heads to the dermatologist for a thorough check-up.

[blaze master]

Do you cover up as much skin as possible when outside ? Could help to lessen any worry or damage.

 

Thai are very good at that.

[hotandsticky]

6 minutes ago, blaze master said:

Do you cover up as much skin as possible when outside ? Could help to lessen any worry or damage.

 

Thai are very good at that.

 

 

Probably explains why they are deficient in vitamin D.

 

 

It may also explain why they have strong right arm muscles......holding those heavy books up, to protect their face from the sun,  whilst driving their motocys with their left

[xylophone]

5 minutes ago, blaze master said:

Do you cover up as much skin as possible when outside ? Could help to lessen any worry or damage.

 

Thai are very good at that.

Well I don't really go out in the sun much at all, however riding my scooter around has obviously resulted in the solar keratosis on my hands, so I should remind myself to put some suncream on whenever I go out on the scooter.

I did ask the doctor about the basal cell carcinoma on my face and he said that some of the sun damage I had could well be as a result of exposure to the sun decades ago, so quite possibly in my days working in the desert – – something I never considered, but as I said previously, there was no such thing as "suncream" back then, or not that I had heard of anyway!

[blaze master]

3 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

Probably explains why they are deficient in vitamin D.

 

I think this is more to do with a lack of vitamin d riçh foods available.

[scubascuba3]

I think a friend paid 16k for a biopsy at BPH plus cost of initial consultation 

[blaze master]

3 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Well I don't really go out in the sun much at all, however riding my scooter around has obviously resulted in the solar keratosis on my hands, so I should remind myself to put some suncream on whenever I go out on the scooter.

I did ask the doctor about the basal cell carcinoma on my face and he said that some of the sun damage I had could well be as a result of exposure to the sun decades ago, so quite possibly in my days working in the desert – – something I never considered, but as I said previously, there was no such thing as "suncream" back then, or not that I had heard of anyway!

 

I cover up like a somchai grab driver on my scooter. Pants. Shoes and socks. I would wear a hoodie and those 2 finger cut out gloves as well. Full face shield helmet with the sun visor.

 

My family has a lot of gingers back in Scotland. I was born blonde so I would burn pretty quick as well.

[scubascuba3]

48 minutes ago, Harrisfan said:

How many did you have?

If you are sexually active in Thailand you'll get them soon enough, most girls have them, they never had HPV vaccine at school