As an avid sunbather in my youth, I paid the price with several basal cell carcinomas. Three of them have been on my face with two on my nose and one high on my cheekbone near my eye. Even though I had had prior basal cell surgeries at my derm's office, I was still fearful going in for Moh's and, of course, the fact that these were on my face.
It is really nothing to worry about. The surgery itself didn't bother me at all. I'm sure you've read about the procedure. I was lying on my back on a table. After anesthetizing the area with lidocaine, they carefully take very thin sections of tissue until they see that the tissue appears to be "normal." Then they have you wait in the waiting room with a bandage on until they look at the tissue samples under the microscope to determine if the margins (edges) are cancer-free. If I recall correctly, my waiting time was about 20 minutes. If the margins are clear, they call you back in and either put in stitches or bandage you up. The two on my nose did not require stitches. They were small "craters" that filled in pretty quickly. The one in the corner of my nostril is completely unnoticeable. The other, which is about the same place as yours, but a little to the side, is slightly indented, but it is skin color and completely unnoticeable to anyone else.
For the one on my cheekbone, they scheduled additional time and had the surgeon "on call" for me in case I required a skin graft. He was on a different floor. They did have me go to the surgeon only because he could do a better cosmetic patch up. I didn't need a skin graft. The surgeon was terrific and made the prettiest little crescent shaped stitching on my cheekbone. When it healed, I was self-conscious and applied make-up to fill it in. I discovered that Bare Minerals Bisque with the flat brush is an EXCELLENT cover-up for scars!!! You just punch the powder right into the scar line and it virtually disappears. But then my DH said I shouldn't cover up the scar because it's pretty, lol. It's really a tiny scar and I usually don't bother anymore.
As far as skin treatment, I think the nose is supposed to generally heal well. I didn't use anything special and it just filled in by itself. No redness at all was left over.
If you're only getting stitches removed a couple of days before your party, there shouldn't be any problem, but I will say, if I had my druthers, for me, I would probably look to have someone else host only because of my personal stress levels. After going through something like this, I'd just want to relax, take care of myself, and not have to worry about party details. But that's just me. If you are an easy-going person who enjoys entertaining, no problem.
Best of luck!
Blogs & Forums
