Skin Cancer After an Oven Burn

by Ryleigh
(PA)

My cancer was not a melanoma but a squamous cell. In November 2006 I burned my hand between my thumb and pointer finger. I used Silvadene for the burn and it took a long time but it eventually healed. Then 5 months later in April 2007 I noticed a tiny pimple like mark on my hand near the burn scar. A doctor numbed the area and tried to prick it since it looked like a simple pimple. Nothing came out and he suggested I see a plastic surgeon to remove it. Over the course of the next month it grew hard and crusty to 1 cm. By this time we were suspecting it was cancer. When the surgeon looked at it he stated without removing it first that it was a squamous cell skin cancer. Needless to say when the biopsy came back a week later, he was absolutely right. I now go to a dermatalogist every 6 months for a whole body scan until I reach the five year mark, then it will be every year. I was told I am a higher risk now that I have had one skin cancer and believe me I am NOT a sunbather.