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Carolee
United Kingdom
7 Posts |
 Posted - 04/10/2011 : 06:31:31
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Hi everyone,
I've been looking at the forum for a couple of weeks now after being told by the doc that the spot I've had on my face for a couple of years (never worried about it until it opened up and started bleeding. Didn't realise that skin cancer was anything other than a moley sort of thing) is a bcc. Got appointment with derm in about a months time. I wasnt too worried about that until I started looking a pics on internet and was getting a bit freaked out by the big holes that are made by surgery. So then started trying to find alternative treatments. First thing I found was cannabis oil but that's a bit hard to get hold of. Next I found petty spurge on this forum and thought that sounds amazing. Kept looking around and found that there are so many different things that seem to work. I really don't like the sound of bloodroot, that looks a bit too aggressive for me. Then I found a post by someone who had used dandelion. As that seems the gentlest option and theres loads of it just outside my door I thought I would try that first. I had been putting manuka honey on it and that had caused quite a bit of puss to come out and it scabbed over then looked quite red, but didn't really seem to be doing a lot. So last nite I applied dandelion sap. This morning it had gone quite dark which I think was blood like the other person said. After gently cleaning it up I again applied dandelion sap. It has now gone very dark and scabby looking. Im going to keep on with the dandelion for a week or so then maybe try petty spurge as that also grows a lot around here. After also reading about agrimony I think I'll try some of that at some point if I need to.
Have to say thanks so much for this forum. I never really thought there would be any alternative to having it cut out so its great to find out that there are other things you can do.
I'll keep you posted!
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Edited by - Carolee on 05/08/2011 02:35:44 |
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Carolee
United Kingdom
7 Posts |
Posted - 04/17/2011 : 05:51:01
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Just an update in case anyone's interested. I used the dandelion sap for a week every night before going to bed. I had to go to work so didn't want to put it on in the daytime. It made the bcc go black for a day or two each time,then that would wash off as a sort of soft scabby bit. I think it was just making it bleed. It didn't seem to affect the ridge around the outside. Mine is the type of bcc which has a ridge around the outside and a crater in the middle. When the black came off it sort of looked "cleaner" if that makes sense but I think the crater was getting bigger.
So, now that I've got 9 days off work I've decided to use petty spurge. I was a little bit worried about this, but decided as I've got the time off now and it's the only chance I'll have before my appt with the derm on 5th May, that I would go for it.
I decided that I'm going to do it exactly as Peplin did in their trials, so I put it on last night for the first time (about 3 separate tiny spots as that was all I could get out of the stem at a time, and spread it over the area) and covered it with a waterproof bandaid. I took the bandaid off this morning just to put a new one on, and of course I was curious as to what it looked like. It has gone very soft looking all over and sort of a whitey colour. Over night it was burning and stinging but not badly. I was quite surprised that there wasn't an immediate reaction when I put the spurge on.
I'm going to apply again for another 2 nights keeping it covered in between then I will let it scab over and heal up and see what happens.
If this works it will be amazing. Fingers crossed!
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dan
611 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2011 : 00:14:28
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| Carolee, we very much appreciate the report on topical dandelion sap for skin cancer. Thanks for sharing your experience. It turned out to be not an instant success anyway. Hopefully the petty spurge will do the trick and you will keep us updated. |
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Carolee
United Kingdom
7 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2011 : 06:09:13
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Thanks so much for replying Dan. I know that this should really go under the petty spurge topic now but as I've started here I'll carry on.
After 2 nights of applying the spurge I've dedided to stop now. The whole area where the bcc was has completely sort of dissolved away. Its now an open sore area with the outside edge flat with the surrounding skin, so the ridge has gone. There's a deeper open area in the middle. There's an outline where the padded bit of the bandaid has been which is a bit raised and red. I think this is because the area was quite weepy overnight so I suppose the spurge spread to the whole area.
I did a test patch on my inner forearm last night, only applying a tiny tiny spot of spurge and then covering with bandaid. This morning it is raised and red so the spurge must affect healthy skin, which is one reason why I'm a bit apprehensive about applying more as I don't want to end up with a huge hole as I do have to go back to work next week. I know that some people keep applying until it goes deeper, but I'm not brave enough to do it!
I'm quite happy with the way it looks now. It looks healthier, I'm going to apply agrimony to help with the healing and let it scab over. I'll post again soon. |
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Carolee
United Kingdom
7 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2011 : 03:14:47
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I changed the heading as I've now moved on from Dandelion.
Since I did the spurge treatment the bcc has slightly improved in that it is not as raised and not as open but otherwise the same. I've noticed that the area around it that the spurge affected is now very sun sensitive. I have to apply factor 30 continuosly when outside, which is often for me as I'm a postie so I'm outside between hours of 10 and 3 every day.
Wonder if anyone else has noticed this effect after using spurge?
Anyway, I saw the derm a few days ago and he confirmed it as bcc and says that if he cuts it out he would do an excision with 3mm margin. Not mohs. The bcc is 5mm so that means I would have a hole 11mm wide, which he would then close up with stitches and I would have scar. He's not pressuring me at all to have the surgery and is quite happy for me to self treat until such time as I'm ready to have it done. He seems to be quite interested in the outcome!
So, I'm going to try another round of petty spurge and see what it looks like then and make a decision whether to try something else or just have the surgery and be done with it.
What I'd really like to know is, has anyone else had surgery in this area? It's between my nose and mouth just inside of the smile line. What worries me is that if he just closes it up won't it pull my lip up? I've tried looking for pics on internet but can only get before and after without finding out how it was actually done.
I'm just trying to get all the information I can before having to make the decision.
Thanks people
ps I'm 48 year old female with red hair and sunburnt a lot in my teens when we hadn't even heard of sun protection! |
Edited by - Carolee on 05/08/2011 06:31:06 |
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Dandelion/Spurge/Excision
