Today was my visit with the doctor who performed the excision of my amelanotic nodular melanoma lesion. Naturally, I was a little worried that I still showed signs of infection in the wound, despite being on antibiotics for two weeks and pouring vinegar solution on my leg every day for a week. I had this weird peeling skin around the healing scar and wasn’t 100% sure it was normal.
I needn’t have worried. The doctor said that the infection looked all gone and that the skin was actually a result of my tissues swelling up like a balloon when it was infected. It apparently stretched the skin so much that now that the area is going back to normal size, the excess skin is sloughing off. Eeewww… no one mentioned that as a side effect of the infection. And it’s been super hard to not pick at it. People who peel their skin after a sunburn know what I’m talking about (and use sunscreen from now on, no more sunburns – any of you…).
Since I had all that swelling, she actually couldn’t get all of the sutures out the last time either. I told her that I had a little piece of blue suture material sticking out of my leg for a few days after the steri-strip fell off. I asked her if I pulled one out if it would unravel my stitches like a loose string might on an old sweater. She laughed. I might find one or two more pieces since my wound was so swollen, she couldn’t actually get to all the little bits. But I won’t “unzip” my scar.
Now, I’m in the scar treatment phase. The doctor told me to go buy silicone scar sheets from the drugstore. I had no idea that these things even existed. She told me they are like the pasties you wear if you don’t want to wear a bra but don’t want your nipples to show. I joked with her, “Do these here ever look like I could go outside not wearing a bra?” She laughed, fortunately. She may have sliced my leg open but at least she has a sense of humor.
I’m sitting here now with one of those things on my scar.
scar sheet over my scar – 4 weeks after excision; much prettier looking than the actual scar!
It seems like a “copper bracelet” kind of thing but I’ll let you know if it actually works. I have a follow-up in 6 weeks for her to evaluate how the scar tissue is healing. I point-blank asked her if it looked OK, especially with the infection. She said it wasn’t the prettiest scar and she was not happy that it’s still so purple and raw looking. She told me to put the scar sheet on for the next couple of weeks and we’ll evaluate it when I come back. At that appointment, she said that she would recommend if we needed to do any revisions or laser work to reduce the scar. I had no idea you could do a laser treatment on a scar. I’ll have to investigate. And maybe I can convince her to “accidentally” do a little laser work on my face at the same time. I’ve got to get something for my vanity out of all these trips to the dermatologist, right?