How terribly awful for you, you have my good wishes for a safe and speedy recovery.

As for the holiday..... I would think you need to take it up with your consultant.
Having said that, what is the difference between going about your normal life here (potentially in the sun at times) and going away for a couple of weeks??
Surely you are risking exposing yourself to the sun here too?
Go on holiday, but be careful.......

mrnkar, sorry to hear what you're going through. My next door neighbour had the same thing on her face and she had to have a skin graft, only a very small area at the side of her nose. She went abroad just after and was fine. Obviously you have to be very careful as you've said and use a complete block on the area's affected.

It may put your mind at rest to get a professional opinion but I hope you do get to have your holiday and good luck with everything

Thanks for your replies. I will ask my surgeon when I see him and hopefully it will be ok with him. As Mary says I might as well be on holiday as here and I agree and Shell good to know someone has gone with the same thing and been ok. A word of warning to everyone, make sure you put lots of cream and keep applying where you glasses or sunglasses touch the side of your nose as I have found out that quite a few people get sun cancer here for some odd reason. At present I am using a Sun stick SPF 30 for face. Karen

Sorry to hear your news Karen, and I agree that it is best to ask your surgeon. Just a thought, does he know you are booked for a holiday? The reason I ask is that my father had a skin cancer on his ear, and they deferred the op until after his holiday, as they said these cancers are very slow growing. Could that be an option for you?

I have had a skin cancer cut out of my arm, which has unfortunately started to grow again, so I would be very interested in hearing your surgeons views on the Curaderm cream.

Hi Karen, sorry to read your health scare, my friend has had these on her face removed and she was fine in fact back to work after a few days, if i were you i would go on holiday, use lots of protection, slap on a hat and have a fantastic time, why stay at home when you could be having a good time, it sounds to me like you want to go, so go and don't worry, your be fine...... Fact.
crystal xx

mrnkr, so sorry to hear that this has happened to you - as others have said the best person to advise you is the consultant who is treating you. The treatment they are proposing is common effective and unobtrusive these days - a colleague of mine had it done recently on his nose too and it's healed so well that most people are hardpressed to say where it was done.

I had a scare myself too a few years back and though my lesions turned out to be non-cancerous it certainly taught me the lesson that one can't be too careful - that getting sunburn increases the risk but that using high factor creams so that you don't burn don't remove all the risks either. I can still hear the dermatologist warning me to always remember that a tanned skin is a damaged skin and that if I persisted in tanning then I was increasing the risks of further damage and possibly cancerous lesions next time. I've contented myself with just stopping at a golden glow now and use fake if I want something darker.

SM

Thanks again everyone. I will let you all know what happens on Tuesday. Madsue I let let you know what he says about the cream. I discovered it by accident while researching. Don't know if its available on prescription yet but it costs about £150 to buy for full treatment. Last year trails were carried out in 10 UK hospitals and elsewhere and the results were 100%.

Dear mrnkr,

I truly do not want to be the bearer of bad news but having followed up your mention of Curaderm and I really would urge you to discuss this in detail with your consultant and think very carefully about using this product instead of the surgery that has been recommended to you. Despite repeated searches, including academic and research databases, the only mention of clinical trials I can find is via the website of the company that markets it and none of the publications it cites as being places where such research has been published are the recognised ones for research of this significance. The most recent research that is quoted as being conducted in British hospitals appear to be published nowhereother than on the sites selling it.

It is claimed that this cream was first used in the early 80s in Australia - if it was as effective as they say it is there would have been a great many clinical trials conducted, they would have published in journals such as The Lancet and it would have become the standard treatment for your condition instead of surgery in that time period. Please, please do not build your hopes up too much and do be careful and take the advice of your consultants before spending out money on this cream.

SM

SM, Thanks for your concern but I have researched this cream and have documentation to support its claim from The Royal London Hospital which I will show to my consultant. The way I look at it, my cancer is a type that rarely spreads and is slow growing and as I am terrified of surgery and skin grafts especially on my face, I am prepared to try anything other than surgery at the moment and feel I have nothing to lose by trying it. Here is a link of one of the documents I have: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/3/prweb219269.htm Karen

I've been wondering how you got on on Tuesday when you visited the surgeon. Did he tell you if it was okay to continue with having your holiday? Did he have any comment about the cream? Hope everything is turning out for you okay.