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Wide Excision & Closure vs. Skin Graft
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Wide Excision & Closure vs. Skin Graft

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Wide Excision & Closure vs. Skin Graft

  • Post
    • September 29, 2019 at 1:37 am
    tam331
    Participant
      Recently diagnosed with Stage 1A Melanoma on my outer left forearm – .4 mm. Plastic surgeon doing surgery next Wednesday and says I will have “dog ears” if I have the wide excision and close. Currently scheduled for a skin graft, but that obviously requires two surgeries – wide excision and donor site. My dad has had two melanomas that were on his shoulder and back of neck that seem to have healed fine. Not sure if I should go with closing the area on the forearm where the skin is tight or opting for the skin graft which will require a splint and sling on my forearm for a week, plus healing in two places vs. one. I am also going on vacation in 1 month.
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        • September 29, 2019 at 3:03 am
        doragsda
        Participant
          My wife had a large (very large) WLE on her calf almost 3 years ago. The calf is also very tight without much in the way of slack in the skin. Her surgical oncologist thought he would have to do a graft, but was able to make a Z shaped incision down most of her calf and pulled everything together and sewed it. It has healed up great and is almost invisible now. I think a lot of the outcome just has to do with the skill of the surgeon.
          • September 29, 2019 at 12:00 pm
          MLD1973
          Participant
            Hi there, I had the dog ears on my lower leg. It’s is tight but once healing as started I was massaging as many time a day as possible. It feels fine now, I am glad I did not have a skin graft. When I had my WLE in April, I was on vacation in Florida in May.. not issues.

            Good luck

            Mandy x

              • October 3, 2019 at 12:06 am
              Treadlightly
              Participant
                I hope it is not too late to provide advice.

                I had a full thickness (vascularized) skin graft nine years ago to reconstruct a wide local excision of my heel. From my experience, the end result is so remarkable…most people can’t even tell anything ever happened to my heel. Also, the donor site on my upper thigh was no big deal. Other than a drain sticking out of the skin for a week, it healed great, and is hidden by most shorts. It is basically just a faint line in my skin.

                I don’t know if they were considering doing a split thickness graft or a full thickness (vascularized) graft, which could make a difference in the appearance. In my case, since it was a full thickness graft, the skin looks very natural and healthy, with just a scar around the perimeter.

                Please keep us posted on your decision and progress.

                Best regards,
                Mark 2A

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