Postscript -- March 26, 2017

I developed basal cell carcinoma above my right eyebrow in the Fall of 2015 and had to have some skin surgically removed. It began as a scab that itched and would not heal for several months. (YES this is the same spot that scabbed and took a long time to heal, see previous entry.) My surgeon said he thought he would be removing a piece of skin the size of a pencil eraser, but it turned out to be the size of a dime. This happened during my last semester of my Master's Degree program...like I needed more stress! 

My stitches after surgery to remove a spot of basal cell carcinoma.

Here's a photo with me after surgery, October 2015. Unfortunately the stitches were removed well before Halloween...otherwise, what a great costume! Overall I am really happy with the results, especially considering the size of the piece of skin they had to remove. When I was getting my stitches removed, the guy taking them out actually started giving me the third degree about wearing sunscreen. Really? Dude, I've been wearing sunscreen RELIGIOUSLY since I was 12 years old!  I will confess though, that right around the time I developed the scab that would not heal, I was going through a brief smoking phase. I know, a Health Educator who smokes. Wow. Let's just say it was an extremely stressful time in my life wrapping up my Master's Degree, and I fell into an old coping habit, and I quit within a month of starting, and I don't smoke now. I did research on smoking and skin cancer and...big surprise...there is a correlation. I can't say for sure this was a direct cause and effect relationship for me, but I know I certainly wasn't helping my situation.

My forehead today, with makeup.  You can see a little scarring perpendicular to my eyebrow.

So does an Efudex treatment prevent future complications? Clearly, in my case, it did not. I asked my dermatologist about this, and she said if I had continued my Efudex application for several more weeks, it probably would have prevented that formation of basal cell carcinoma. But, at the time, I had no idea that a stubborn scab that took much longer to heal than the rest of my face indicated a potential basal cell carcinoma spot. And, as I mentioned before, I did not help my skin by starting up smoking.

Did Efudex get rid of a lot of trouble spots and improve the appearance of my skin? Absolutely. It did leave some scarring on my chin, which you can't see here because it is subtle, but in just the right light I can see them.

Best of luck to you on your healing journey!