Medical Advice

 Three years ago I worked for a plastic surgeon. During my time there I learned that if you have any size or shape of pigmented lesion (aka a mole) around  the periphery of your hands or feet, or on your soles or palms they needed to be removed. The reason you ask? Because they have a greater likelihood of being preCANCEROUS and no one likes cancer.

10 days ago I finally made an appointment to go and have my moles removed from Dr. Fairbanks. Bart had been bugging me to get the mole taken off my left big toe.  The mole didn't bother me and I figured not many people even noticed it but Bart kept telling me to get it taken off. Well, 3 hours later, 4 moles removed, 4 shots to my big toe and lots of sutures later I hobbled out of the office. Dr. Fairbanks had to do a skin flap in order to close the incision which is why I have so many sutures. Yes, the shots to my toe hurt and I wanted to jump off the table.

Seven days later my pathology report came back from the lab and guess what?  Both of the moles on my hand and foot showed ATYPICAL cells which means that those mole were precancerous and could have eventually caused melanoma. But since I had them taken off I am fine and don't have to worry.

Moral of the story, each of you need to look at your own hands and feet and then tell/look at all your family and friends hands and feet. Even if the mole is small and looks like a freckle it is better to be safe than sorry.



The worse part of the entire experience is NOT hobbling around or needing to wear socks and athletic shoes, or cleaning my sutures twice a day rather it's the fact that I can't get a pedicure for 6 WEEKS. AHHHHH