I think that I have early signs of skin cancer

[shaurene]

Go and see my local doctor. Go down central road to the intersection with No:2 road, turn right and go down about 500mts there is a sign on the right, green I think with 77 on it. He is an older doctor but really great, I would put him as good as any western Doc I know. He does his own checks he has the stuff, cost you around 300bt and he will point you in the right direction. After he test you he will know. I live in Khun KAEN now but just arrived in Pattaya for 7 nights I go into the Katseree most nights around 7pm I will be there with my wife and little gran daughter so beutifull. I am 75 but they say I look like 55-60. Ask any of the guys there to point out Kiwi Kenny.

[RedQualia]

Ignored some odd patches of skin on my temples a bit too long. By the time I saw the dermatologist, he had to leave some pretty big marks on the sides of my head to get the cancer out. Except that he also had biopsies done, and the basal cell cancers I had there turned out to be capable of malignancy. Ended up having to have both areas excised by plastic surgeon in Chiang Mai. Probably the size of a 10 Baht coin or larger, but longer wounds generated to close each wound. I now have 5-6 cm long red lines with stitches on each temple and won't feel comfortable showing my face too many places for another few weeks at least.

Too, because I delayed in having the odd patches of skin examined, what might have been a 2-3,000 Baht matter early on turned into a 55,000 Baht matter to be dealt with in the operating room.

Do not delay in having any odd patches of skin examined and treated. Potentially both expensive and dangerous.

[chingching]

I had a small lesion that was not healing for about a year or so. Went to Queen Sirikit hospital in Ban Chang. Had it removed and a cyst as well for 200 baht. I had the cyst biopsied , but that was a mistake, but the doctor kind of talked me into it. I felt that since i had it for over 10 years, if it didn't kill me by now it wasn't going to. The biopsy cost 750 baht. If the biopsy had proved positive they would excise the whole thing, but they did that anyway, so it definitely was a waste of money. If u catch them when they are small enough they are just going to remove the whole thing with lasers, so no need for biopsy.

[WitawatWatawit]

Memorial Hospital has a skin doctor, but I can't remember her name. Seems competent and very friendly. She did some icing of psoriasis and other things for me, but would not ice things she suspected were skin cancer. For that I went to my social security hospital - Got it excised and biopsied for free. The Memorial doctor charged 2,000 baht for her treatment, and said the basal cell carcinomas would have been excised and biopsied at Memorial for around 6,000 baht.

Hope you've got all of yours sorted out.

[superal]

I have returned from the UK some 3 weeks ago after a short visit . Whilst there I got an appointment with my doctor to look at a severe rash on my arms which turned out to be an allergic reaction from strimming in my field . I then asked him to take a look at a small growth on my chest . He said that needs to come off and made a fast track appointment for me at the local hospital for two weeks later . The dermatologist said she thought it was a basal carcinoma but it is not always possible to be 100% certain as sometimes there presentation can be confusing and she recommended the removal by surgery . Well I was a bit shocked as I had two previous removal of Basal done by freezing on my face , neck and ear . She then said that they can operate within the next 2 hours which they did under a local anaesthetic . The worse part was waiting for the results of the biopsy which took 2 weeks or more but were negative for melanoma . However what was surprising to me was she stated that the damage to my skin was an accumulation of many years of exposure to the sun . For sure I was a regular in Spain and would fry on the beach and return to the UK looking like an Asian . But we didn't know the consequences then and now we are paying the price . Her strong advice to me was to stay out of the sun between the hours of 11 00 am and 3 00 pm no matter which country you are in and always to apply to your skin a high factor sun screen, wear a broad rimmed hat and try to wear light clothes to cover all of your skin as this will prevent the trigger of a reaction . As a keen golfer and angler this has really hit home at me and now I am trying to protect my skin and sometimes look a little stupid but there is no option . Take care out there in the strong sun of Thailand .

[xylophone]

Yesterday I went to Bangkok Phuket hospital to attend a presentation on skin cancer and its treatments.

There would have been about 35 people at the presentation and there were four doctors presenting over the course of 90 min, and the presentation was well put together so that even the layman could understand it.

Some of the content was known to me, however there were a few things which I was surprised about, namely: –– –

– That sun exposure as a child is responsible for a lot of skin cancers later in life, however that doesn't mean that one doesn't have to cover up and apply sunscreen throughout one's life.

– Apart from solar keratoses which can be burnt off or treated with a cream, the other two skin cancers which are most prevalent are basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas, both of which can be excised (cut out) and sent for biopsy, and if that is clear then all is well apart from the fact that one should regularly check for such things.

– The melanoma presentation was the most scary although I did learn something new, inasmuch as some melanomas are in fact hereditary (genetic) and unlike the other sort of melanoma, these ones don't metastasise into the organs, but do appear elsewhere on the skin, however they can be treated quite easily with surgery and if one is going to get a melanoma, then these are the best sort to get!

– Now down to the real bad guy, and if a melanoma has metastasised then they will check what is called the Sentinel lymph node, which is the lymph node which is most likely to be infected first of all and if it has, it will be removed along with others as necessary. The problem being that if the cancer has metastasised, then it is most probable that it will reappear in organs such as the liver, lungs and brain as well as the bones and if that is the case, operations can be performed to remove the tumours, however it is really only a means to make life more comfortable as one waits for the end.

Having said that, there was a presentation on the new drugs which are available and these are quite exciting because they are called targeted or "smart bomb" drugs and are much more effective than the old-style chemotherapy, which isn't much used these days when treating melanoma. Briefly, these drugs enable the bodies "T cells" (helper cells) to recognise the cancer cells and destroy them. That is usually the "T cells" job, however these cancers have found a way of disguising their true being by producing a protein which tricks the "T cells" into thinking they are friendly, and the new drugs helped strip away this protein so the "T cells" can in fact recognise and destroy them – – very interesting and very well presented for such a complicated subject.

The whole presentation was well received and when the question was asked as to whether all of these treatments were available here at this hospital or at the Bangkok facility the answer was............yes and no. It appears that the new drugs that are showing such promise are not available in Thailand, which surprised me, especially as a lot of time had been devoted to these things at the presentation. The normal procedures for basal cell and squamous cell cancers were available and of course there were specialists in these fields able to assist.

I had a friend who recently died back in NZ, and he had been treated with these new drugs for his melanoma, and he managed to fight this bastard disease for over three years and also managed to live a fairly full life, even at the latter stages. He and his specialist were in no doubt that his life had been extended by using these drugs not only in the actual time, but in the quality of it, and his specialist was very enthusiastic about similar drugs in the pipeline.

So I guess the messages from this are............. if you were had regular exposure to the sun and sunburn when you were a child and in your youth, then you need to be wary and get regular checks on any abnormal skin lumps, bumps and lesions, This especially if you were fair skinned, red haired or had freckles and even more importantly if you never actually achieved anything of a tan, despite the amount of sun you received – – I am one of these and I am a category one with regard to skin cancers (the one at most risk).

You still need to wear a hat, and a sunscreen with an SPF factor of around 40, applied at least 20 min before you go out into the sun.

Irrespective of your skin type, if you have had regular sun exposure over your life, then you need to regularly inspect your own skin, and quite possibly get professional checks done every six months or so.

I asked about the process which is available back home called "mole mapping" by which a scan is done of your body and any moles and lesions etc are noted and kept on a computer programme, and when you go back some months later the same is done again and they are able to compare images to see if anything has changed. The answer was that it is not available here although the senior doctor said that it was something they would hope to get in the future?

So everything is good here with regard to treatment apart from the fact that if you do have melanoma, you are probably best off being treated back in your home country.

Edited August 22, 2015 by xylophone

[BKKdreaming]

Yesterday I went to Bangkok Phuket hospital to attend a presentation on skin cancer and its treatments

Thanks for posting that , i am one of the fair haired , freckles kids always at the beach and getting skin peeling sunburns many times a summer when you.......

Now 45 years later I am keeping an eye on it

[RedQualia]

A related aside: The ultraviolet (IV) radiation index in the UK is typically 6-7, rarely 8-9. UV Pretty similar in the US of A, though southern latitudes are 1-2 points higher than the northernmost. Indexes in Canada runs 3-5. indexes in the Mediterranean area are commonly 9-10.

The afternoon UV index in Thailand is as low 9, in the months of December and January. Several websites report the remaining months as simply "11+." A few will clarify that it's typically in the range of 12-13 in the afternoons, and often hits 14+. At noon on a cloud free day, it can apparently reach 15.

So, white folk... Next time you see a bunch of Thai people lined up in the shade of a telephone pole at a bus stop, stop laughing as quickly as possible, and take your place in their line. They're smarter than you.

[BKKdreaming]

......So, white folk... Next time you see a bunch of Thai people lined up in the shade of a telephone pole at a bus stop, stop laughing as quickly as possible, and take your place in their line. They're smarter than you.

yeah what was the saying about mad dogs and Englishmen out in the noon day sun ?

Also think about walking on the shady side of the street......

[Dumbastheycome]

Best advice...avoid direct sun for extended periods regardless! Have also had basal cell spots removed from various places. But certainly take caution about expectations from BK Hospital , BK ! I have an as yet undiagnosed skin affliction on my forearms that is cystic but non cancer. I spent 35,000 for no diagnostic result and dismissed with the idea that I have an eczema! Eczema with proliferating cysts? Attitude seemed basically"we don't recognise it so please pay the bill and go away !"

Incidentally, Maha Saharat has a hospital that for 800 bht will do a thorough attempt at diagnosis and procedure ( if required) for almost anything !

[lopburi3]

I had a small lesion that was not healing for about a year or so. Went to Queen Sirikit hospital in Ban Chang. Had it removed and a cyst as well for 200 baht. I had the cyst biopsied , but that was a mistake, but the doctor kind of talked me into it. I felt that since i had it for over 10 years, if it didn't kill me by now it wasn't going to. The biopsy cost 750 baht. If the biopsy had proved positive they would excise the whole thing, but they did that anyway, so it definitely was a waste of money. If u catch them when they are small enough they are just going to remove the whole thing with lasers, so no need for biopsy.

Laser is not reliable for cancer removal and even surgical removal needs to be examined to be sure all was removed. Biopsy is very well spent money. These growths are normally very slow growing so having had them for a long time does not mean they can not become a danger at some point.

So say I who received another positive biopsy again today - this time of an area treated for several months with Aldara (which seemed to remove it but grew back after stop) and which was removed by laser last week - now will require wide margin surgical removal later this week and new testing to be sure all removed.

[heybuz]

latest effort

[xylophone]

latest effortIMG_20150820_120531_HDR.jpg

Jeez..........that is some scar, and all the very best with your recovery.

[xylophone]

I have thought long and hard about this, however I feel it is necessary for me to add a follow-up to my post number 36, regarding the visit to Bangkok Phuket hospital and their presentation on the skin cancer and its treatments.

I have since had two follow-up e-mails to this, offering a discounted price for a checkup and I have no problem with that, because it is the commercial reality of today's hospitals which are run as businesses, that they have to make a profit and into the bargain they have to offer a "customer service" (read healthcare) so it should be a win-win situation.

At the presentation I was wondering why the lead doctor/dermatologists face looked familiar and I really couldn't pinpoint it at the time, however a couple of days later it hit me.............this was the skin specialist at Bangkok Phuket hospital who had recommended that she cut out a small lump (small being the operative word because it was only just slightly raised off the skin) in the corner of my eye and that afterwards I might need a small amount of cosmetic surgery to tidy it up.

For her part of the "operation" the charge was going to be 11,000 baht and she was unable to give me an estimate for what the cosmetic surgery would be because at that point she had no idea what the scar would look like.

I didn't book the "operation" there and then because I thought that this was excessive and I wondered if it was really necessary, as I had been to my usual regular skin specialist at Phuket International hospital prior to this visit, and the Bangkok Phuket hospital visit was really for a second opinion. This because the skin specialist at the Phuket International hospital had suggested that it wasn't cancerous at all and first things first, I should try Aldara (imiquimod).

Now I have always held my skin specialist at the Phuket International hospital in very high regard (Dr Sithiporn Taechatamanan) however felt that a second opinion would not be a bad idea in this case, hence the visit to Bangkok Phuket hospital, so I took his advice and applied the Aldara but in the way that my doctor/general surgeon and his skin specialist associate in New Zealand had described, smaller amounts, more often and for a shorter time period. And within a month the lump had disappeared completely and has never returned.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that perhaps sometimes the moneymaking opportunities available in medicine in some hospitals are put above what is necessary to deliver the best to the customer/patient. But then again I should have already known this because there are at least two occasions when my bill has been bumped up at Bangkok Phuket hospital because they thought I was going to charge the procedure to BUPA.

Moral of the story...........be aware that some procedures can be recommended when they are not necessary, that bills can be bumped up if you are either a farang or are charging the procedure to BUPA or the like, and if your situation is not "life-threatening" or something that is urgent, then perhaps it doesn't hurt to try the least invasive procedure first.

[loppylugs1]

India I have been and about to leave for a range of cancer testing (skin )as well. Had a mole removed ,and analyised there for £10 a while ago. Cheap to get there £130 return,bit more the other side ,but magnificent treatment

Just arm and a leg stuff here in Thailand,costing a veritable fortune for even the most basic of treatments £1500 for a night in private hospital here,£28 a night there ,and better care,just two hours away as well

[lopburi3]

It does not cost anything near that price for a normal private hospital room in Thailand and you would not normally be staying overnight in a hospital for skin cancer - and this is something that should have an eye kept on it long term in most cases - not something for medical travel.

[BKKdreaming]

nothing against going for a 2nd and 3rd opinion , but if you are shopping for an answer you like price wise you might be ignoring that something important needs to be done that costs money to fix .

Its also important to have check-ups every 6 months are so , so you can catch it before it gets too big....

At least that is what I do

[loppylugs1]

It does not cost anything near that price for a normal private hospital room in Thailand and you would not normally be staying overnight in a hospital for skin cancer - and this is something that should have an eye kept on it long term in most cases - not something for medical travel.

OK friend did not have skin cancer Pneumonia ,Pattaya International,bill came to £1500 in at 9am ,overnight stay ,then he twigged what was going on later in the afternoon following day ,no doctor (seen once in evening) and after assurances that one was on the way,stripped off his pads etc. the staff were still running around swapping oxygen bottles that were half full for full ones just to bump his bill up

He went back later to try and get some money back ,but too late. other experiences too I'm aware of

just wanted to add a bit of information,other posters have quoted cheaper options in BKK ,they look alright though, just different options are available

Edited August 29, 2015 by loppylugs1

[Sheryl]

Did he get an itemized bill? As total amount and room rates are not the same thing.

Also was he in ICU? (sounds like perhaps he was ..?)

[loppylugs1]

Did he get an itemized bill? As total amount and room rates are not the same thing.

Also was he in ICU? (sounds like perhaps he was ..?)

Yes ICU,but they tell you nothing of what you are getting yourself into,the costs are likely to be,even in ICU you do not see a doctor straight away ,just air pumping,heart monitoring. Not saying that what they did was incorrect ,but hell those charges

Myself went to International for a skin cancer check-up recently,told initially it would be 800 ish baht,,doctor gave me the look over,pre-cancerous skin back of the ear(could have guessed really),another 4000 baht,plus the examination was upped to 1800 baht,just rip after rip off India will do me nicely. For the cost of a flight it will save me a bundle ,really it will,did not have the 4000 baht treatment,booked air ticket instead £10 there for freezing the scalp...and the nearest point in India is only two hours away

Edited August 29, 2015 by loppylugs1

[loppylugs1]

Did he get an itemized bill? As total amount and room rates are not the same thing.

Also was he in ICU? (sounds like perhaps he was ..?)

Yes ICU,but they tell you nothing of what you are getting yourself into,the costs are likely to be,even in ICU you do not see a doctor straight away ,just air pumping,heart monitoring. Not saying that what they did was incorrect ,but hell those charges

Myself went to International for a skin cancer check-up recently,told initially it would be 800 ish baht,,doctor gave me the look over,pre-cancerous skin back of the ear(could have guessed really),another 4000 baht,plus the examination was upped to 1800 baht,just rip after rip off India will do me nicely. For the cost of a flight it will save me a bundle ,really it will,did not have the 4000 baht treatment,booked air ticket instead £10 there for freezing the scalp...and the nearest point in India is only two hours away

...and the insult after this my friend went to get a letter from the hospital to confirm his illness/treatment,..another 900 baht please...these people are out and out robbers