Ulrika, 46, has had a long and grueling treatment process with many different doctors involved. Ulrika wants to share her experiences so that other skin cancer patients don’t end up in the same situation
Ulrika discovers a wound on her temple that won’t go away. She goes to her GP and is referred to the local hospital, which has to refer her to a private skin clinic due to long waiting times.
Surgery 1 and 2: Ulrika is diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma type 2 and 3 and undergoes surgery in June 2016. Unfortunately, not all of the cancer is removed. The dermatology clinic operates once again, but this time they don’t get it all out. The dermatology clinic recommends Ulrika to wait to do more to see how it develops. Ulrika learns later in her treatment that you never wait to operate for this type of basal cell carcinoma.
Surgery 3: Two years later, Ulrika undergoes surgery again and has skin transplanted from her forearm, as the damage is quite extensive. The result is not very pretty and the skin cancer is still not gone. As a result, Ulrika is offered another surgery for her basal cell carcinoma at another hospital. Ulrika accepts with the hope of getting rid of the cancer and that the first, less successful surgery can be corrected.
Operation 4: Ulrika is operated on again at a new hospital. This time, no skin is transplanted. Once again, Ulrika gets bad news – the cancer is still not gone and she is scheduled for another surgery.
Operation 5: Ulrika undergoes her fifth surgery at the hospital. Here, an even larger skin graft is performed as the damage has become much more extensive. 15 cm of skin is taken from the other forearm to cover for the first failed transplant. Unfortunately, there are still basal cell cancers closest to the eye.
Ulrika is in despair and doesn’t know what to do. The cancer is very close to her eye and she doesn’t dare wait for another surgery for fear of it spreading even closer to her eye. It’s a difficult period – she feels a constant worry that the skin cancer won’t be removed and that it will get worse.
Fortunately, Ulrika manages to convince the hospital that she can have Mohs surgery. She read about Mohs online and found out that this method exists, which no doctor had told her. Ulrika is then referred to a new hospital that performs Mohs surgery – unfortunately, the wait is very long. Ulrika starts searching online to find others who can perform Mohs surgery. She finds Hudcancerkliniken in Stockholm and gets in touch, and she quickly gets an appointment a few weeks later.
Operation 6: Ulrika is being treated at Hudcancerkliniken in Stockholm and is very happy with the treatment she has received. She feels incredibly well received at the clinic and finally feels like she’s being taken seriously. All skin cancer is checked in the lab and removed the same day.
Ulrika says that her outcome would have been completely different if Mohs surgery had been the treatment method from the start. “If I had known that Mohs surgery existed from the beginning, it would never have come to this”. Ulrika hopes that in the near future, Mohs surgery will be the standard method for removing basal cell carcinoma in the face.
But the cancer is gone, and that’s the most important thing. Ulrika wants to share her story so that others don’t end up in the same situation: “Everyone should know that Mohs surgery is available, so they don’t have to wait too long and get ugly scars like me”. If Mohs surgery had been the first treatment method I had received, I wouldn’t look the way I do today. It’s also important to save people’s time and resources, which in my situation have been wasted on five demanding surgeries,” Ulrika concludes.
At the Skin Cancer Clinic, the waiting time is short, the cancer is completely removed in just one operation and the method is tissue-saving. When operating on the face, it is very important to remove as little skin as possible.
