Pia shares her experience

During a regular check-up for skin cancer, the dermatologist found a spot on Pia’s scalp. Pia didn’t know there was anything on her scalp at all, as there were no wounds or other signs of skin cancer.

Pia lives in Sweden, but knew about the Skin Cancer Clinic in Denmark when her father was treated with Mohs surgery at the clinic in Copenhagen several years ago. Pia is glad that she knew about the possibility of Mohs skin cancer treatment in Denmark, because in Sweden, only Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg treats skin cancer with Mohs surgery.

Although there is free choice of hospital in Sweden, Sahlgrenska cannot take all patients who need Mohs surgery. This means that there is no equal skin cancer treatment for the whole of Sweden. Unfortunately, this is also the case in Denmark and Norway. Here, Mohs is only offered in some locations. Pia believes that something should be done about this. Mohs surgery should be offered as a possible treatment option in the public sector throughout the Nordic region.

Pia chose to go to Denmark for skin cancer treatment, and unfortunately, the doctor at the Skin Cancer Clinic discovered that the area of basal cell carcinoma on Pia’s scalp was much larger than the dermatologist in Sweden had thought. Pia went through five rounds of Mohs surgery treatment on the same day until there was free tissue before the basal cell cancer was gone – a three-centimeter circle was removed. Skin from the scalp was immobilized to cover the surgical hole and to allow hair to grow back where the skin cancer had been surgically removed.

If the skin cancer had been removed with standard surgery, the area to be operated on would have been at least twice as large and it would have been difficult to mobilize enough skin with hair growth to cover the hole.

Pia is very happy that she knew about the Skin Cancer Clinic so that she could be treated quickly and professionally with Mohs surgery. In addition, she hopes that it will be possible for all skin cancer patients to be offered Mohs surgery treatment in the future. Pia says:

“I think the doctors at the Skin Cancer Clinic have done a fantastic job. I am so happy that all skin cancer was removed in one operation with Mohs surgery. If I had been treated with regular surgery, I would have ended up with a large bald area on my head”.