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tbenton
5 Posts |
 Posted - 03/12/2010 : 09:02:50
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I had a basal cell removed from my back at the end of Dec 2009 so its been almost 2.5 months. It was stitched and the scar healed nicely but recently I felt a strong pin prick type pain when I washed my back or pressed on the scar. I cannot see it well back there so my husband looked and said it looked good except there was depression (almost a hole) in the middle of the healed scar. I had him put Neosporin and a band-aid on it. Two days later he took it off and there was a bit of pus and blood on the band-aid but the scar was still light pink and not swollen or anything. Its been another 3 days and there is still a bloody spot in the middle of the scar. Its not puffy or oozing but still have that sharp pain when its pressed. I have had several of these surgeries and two others near where this one was and never had this happen before. I don't want to panic and go running back to the derm doc and spend more money maybe for nothing so thought I would ask for advice here first. I just wonder if I use a back scratcher and wonder if I might have scratched it and hurt it.
Ideas?
Thanks,
Terri
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Grace2Go
USA
64 Posts |
Posted - 03/12/2010 : 19:07:20
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Hello tbenton,
It sounds like something is still active at the bcc site, whether it's infection or more bcc cells is the question. My bcc has the type of pin prick feeling you described, but I have an active bcc. If you don't want to go back to the derm yet you could try putting apple cider vinegar, or one of the other natural treatments mentioned on here, and see what type of reaction it gets.
Best of luck with it! Keep us posted.
quote:
Originally posted by tbenton
I had a basal cell removed from my back at the end of Dec 2009 so its been almost 2.5 months. It was stitched and the scar healed nicely but recently I felt a strong pin prick type pain when I washed my back or pressed on the scar. I cannot see it well back there so my husband looked and said it looked good except there was depression (almost a hole) in the middle of the healed scar. I had him put Neosporin and a band-aid on it. Two days later he took it off and there was a bit of pus and blood on the band-aid but the scar was still light pink and not swollen or anything. Its been another 3 days and there is still a bloody spot in the middle of the scar. Its not puffy or oozing but still have that sharp pain when its pressed. I have had several of these surgeries and two others near where this one was and never had this happen before. I don't want to panic and go running back to the derm doc and spend more money maybe for nothing so thought I would ask for advice here first. I just wonder if I use a back scratcher and wonder if I might have scratched it and hurt it.
Ideas?
Thanks,
Terri
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tbenton
5 Posts |
Posted - 03/15/2010 : 09:03:25
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Thanks for the reply. I have searched on Vinegar and see a few posts about putting the cider vinegar on the site to see if it stings. I am all for natural 'cures' and so forth but seems to me that any form of vinegar is bound to sting on any open sore/incision or am I wrong. I can't find too much on this forum about other things to use to check this bcc for active cells. Can you point me?
Tx
Terri |
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Grace2Go
USA
64 Posts |
Posted - 03/15/2010 : 12:05:33
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Hello Terri,
I'm sorry I didn't clarify about what type of reaction from acv, etc. You are right that it might sting regardless of what it is. What I meant was, see if applying acv (or orange oil, Sunspot, etc.) regularly for a few days, and see if it "reacts" as in activating the area to reject whatever is there.
Since it reacted to Neosporin with evidence of infection, and is still painful, there may very well be some infection deeper inside the spot. It's certainly not uncommon for a stitched area to become infected, or even for a piece of a stitch to still be present in there. If there's an infection inside the spot (where the pin prick pain is), the Neosporin wouldn't be able to get into the spot deep enough to eliminate the infection. ACV, orange oil, or another penetrating topical might soak into the skin and find the problem, whether more infection surfaces, or evidence of more bcc activity. You could also put some peroxide on it a few times and see if it bubbles every time, which can indicate infection present.
You might have irritated it with a back scratcher, but if it was already healed it shouldn't have caused all the trouble you described. Unless it was a natural wood scratcher that had a splinter come loose and stuck in your skin, just happening to land in the healed bcc spot. Now that would be my luck!!
Keep us posted!
Grace2Go
quote:
Originally posted by tbenton
Thanks for the reply. I have searched on Vinegar and see a few posts about putting the cider vinegar on the site to see if it stings. I am all for natural 'cures' and so forth but seems to me that any form of vinegar is bound to sting on any open sore/incision or am I wrong. I can't find too much on this forum about other things to use to check this bcc for active cells. Can you point me?
Tx
Terri
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tbenton
5 Posts |
Posted - 03/15/2010 : 13:17:35
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Thanks for the clarification. I giggled over the mention of 'luck' using wooden back scratcher. We have one but I was actually using a purse size retractable metal one with a metal hand. My back itches a lot so I got it to use in the car,etc. I have used it rather intensely but hopefully I would have known if I scratched the scar but like you said its healed enough that nothing should have opened it. I sure wish I could see it or get to it but its in that no mans land area on my upper back where I cannot get to no matter which way I approach it. Will try the peroxide first and thanks again.
What is sunspot?
Terri
============
Hello Terri,
I'm sorry I didn't clarify about what type of reaction from acv, etc. You are right that it might sting regardless of what it is. What I meant was, see if applying acv (or orange oil, Sunspot, etc.) regularly for a few days, and see if it "reacts" as in activating the area to reject whatever is there.
Since it reacted to Neosporin with evidence of infection, and is still painful, there may very well be some infection deeper inside the spot. It's certainly not uncommon for a stitched area to become infected, or even for a piece of a stitch to still be present in there. If there's an infection inside the spot (where the pin prick pain is), the Neosporin wouldn't be able to get into the spot deep enough to eliminate the infection. ACV, orange oil, or another penetrating topical might soak into the skin and find the problem, whether more infection surfaces, or evidence of more bcc activity. You could also put some peroxide on it a few times and see if it bubbles every time, which can indicate infection present.
You might have irritated it with a back scratcher, but if it was already healed it shouldn't have caused all the trouble you described. Unless it was a natural wood scratcher that had a splinter come loose and stuck in your skin, just happening to land in the healed bcc spot. Now that would be my luck!!
Keep us posted!
Grace2Go
quote:
Originally posted by tbenton
Thanks for the reply. I have searched on Vinegar and see a few posts about putting the cider vinegar on the site to see if it stings. I am all for natural 'cures' and so forth but seems to me that any form of vinegar is bound to sting on any open sore/incision or am I wrong. I can't find too much on this forum about other things to use to check this bcc for active cells. Can you point me?
Tx
Terri
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Grace2Go
USA
64 Posts |
Posted - 03/17/2010 : 00:43:32
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Hi Terri,
I hope the peroxide helps you determine if you're just dealing with an infected area, or if you need to consider other possibilities.
Sunspot (Sunspot ES) is a topical treatment some have/are using to treat their skin lesions. There are several posts throughout the forum that can be found by putting the word sunspot in the search box.
There is a short thread here too:
http://www.topicalinfo.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=660
Maybe someone will see this who has used Sunspot and post about their experience.
I know the upper back area is a bad place to have a suspicious spot. A couple of years ago I had extreme itching in a spot on my upper back, and using a mirror to look in another mirror was the only way to even see where the itchy place was. I couldn't reach it, but finally managed to see it in the mirror. At first I thought it was a small mole, and an itching mole is a red flag, of course. I checked it a couple of days later and noticed it had grown almost twice the size in just two days. I had my husband look at it then, and it turned out to be a tick! I was glad it wasn't a cancerous mole, but it made my skin crawl to think about having a tick embedded in my back for days. At least it was easy and mostly painless to get rid of, unlike cancer. This story is totally irrelevant to skin cancer, except to say that it pays to check out an itchy, suspicious spot, even in hard to see areas, and a tick can end up being as deadly as cancer.
quote:
Originally posted by tbenton
Thanks for the clarification. I giggled over the mention of 'luck' using wooden back scratcher. We have one but I was actually using a purse size retractable metal one with a metal hand. My back itches a lot so I got it to use in the car,etc. I have used it rather intensely but hopefully I would have known if I scratched the scar but like you said its healed enough that nothing should have opened it. I sure wish I could see it or get to it but its in that no mans land area on my upper back where I cannot get to no matter which way I approach it. Will try the peroxide first and thanks again.
What is sunspot?
Terri
============
Hello Terri,
I'm sorry I didn't clarify about what type of reaction from acv, etc. You are right that it might sting regardless of what it is. What I meant was, see if applying acv (or orange oil, Sunspot, etc.) regularly for a few days, and see if it "reacts" as in activating the area to reject whatever is there.
Since it reacted to Neosporin with evidence of infection, and is still painful, there may very well be some infection deeper inside the spot. It's certainly not uncommon for a stitched area to become infected, or even for a piece of a stitch to still be present in there. If there's an infection inside the spot (where the pin prick pain is), the Neosporin wouldn't be able to get into the spot deep enough to eliminate the infection. ACV, orange oil, or another penetrating topical might soak into the skin and find the problem, whether more infection surfaces, or evidence of more bcc activity. You could also put some peroxide on it a few times and see if it bubbles every time, which can indicate infection present.
You might have irritated it with a back scratcher, but if it was already healed it shouldn't have caused all the trouble you described. Unless it was a natural wood scratcher that had a splinter come loose and stuck in your skin, just happening to land in the healed bcc spot. Now that would be my luck!!
Keep us posted!
Grace2Go
quote:
Originally posted by tbenton
Thanks for the reply. I have searched on Vinegar and see a few posts about putting the cider vinegar on the site to see if it stings. I am all for natural 'cures' and so forth but seems to me that any form of vinegar is bound to sting on any open sore/incision or am I wrong. I can't find too much on this forum about other things to use to check this bcc for active cells. Can you point me?
Tx
Terri
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tbenton
5 Posts |
Posted - 03/17/2010 : 08:56:16
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The peroxide barely bubbled so not infected and I guess thats good news. The 'bloody' spot is now a round scab and still stings a bit. I am going to wait until the scab falls off and then see what we are dealing with.
I will check on Sunspot.
Thanks for the story about the tick. I itch all the time in certain spots on my back too! Goodness...never heard of a tick on the back before so will remember that. So glad you thought to have hubby look at it. If it stayed there a long time you could have had bigger issues than bcc.
Terri
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hole opened in scar
