› Forums › General Melanoma Community › skin graft on foot sole
- This topic has 18 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 7 months ago by
Bosandi.
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- October 4, 2011 at 9:02 pm
My father had wide excision (without graft) of a new melanoma spot on his left foot sole two weeks ago. But the biopsy shows melanoma cells on the margin. We are sad and upset about this. The surgon said he would cut off bigger area and apply a synthetic skin graft at a interim basis and wait for pathology confirming clean margin before putting a permant skin graft into place, which means that my poor dad will have to go through another 2 rounds of surgery.
My father had wide excision (without graft) of a new melanoma spot on his left foot sole two weeks ago. But the biopsy shows melanoma cells on the margin. We are sad and upset about this. The surgon said he would cut off bigger area and apply a synthetic skin graft at a interim basis and wait for pathology confirming clean margin before putting a permant skin graft into place, which means that my poor dad will have to go through another 2 rounds of surgery.
The surgon was reluctant to cut off bigger area in the first surgery two weeks ago as he was concerned of using skin graft on weight bearing foot sole.
Can anyone who went through skin graft on foot sole or other weight bearing spot before share with us the experience? How will skin graft affect walking in the future? Is it necessary to have interim synthetic skin graft? Does skin graft on foot sole require better skills/experiences from surgon? What questions shall we ask to ensure we have the right surgon and right plan down the road?
Thanks.
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- October 4, 2011 at 9:21 pm
I don’t know how much this will help…I had a skin graft on my lower shin a few inches above my foot. I was totally unprepared for the recovery! I couldn’t put any wreight on it for a few days and then was on crutches and couldn’t drive for a few months. I had an excellent plastic surgeon do mine!
Good luck to you and your dad. Definitely go to a doctor who knows their stuff!!
Courtney -
- October 4, 2011 at 9:21 pm
I don’t know how much this will help…I had a skin graft on my lower shin a few inches above my foot. I was totally unprepared for the recovery! I couldn’t put any wreight on it for a few days and then was on crutches and couldn’t drive for a few months. I had an excellent plastic surgeon do mine!
Good luck to you and your dad. Definitely go to a doctor who knows their stuff!!
Courtney -
- October 4, 2011 at 9:21 pm
I don’t know how much this will help…I had a skin graft on my lower shin a few inches above my foot. I was totally unprepared for the recovery! I couldn’t put any wreight on it for a few days and then was on crutches and couldn’t drive for a few months. I had an excellent plastic surgeon do mine!
Good luck to you and your dad. Definitely go to a doctor who knows their stuff!!
Courtney -
- October 4, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Hi Shimian,
My father had surgery on his right heel in July 2010 and he had a permanent skin graft taken from his upper thigh to close up the heel. My father also had 2 surgeries for this, the first to take out the tumor, followed by the skin graft about 2-3 weeks later. A temporary skin graft was never discussed with us but based on many of the discussions on this board, it does seem standard to take out a bigger area to make sure they get all the tumors. The surgeon that we used is an oncologist surgeon so I dont think he specialized in the foot or anything like that. After the skin graft was placed on his heel, he was on some kind of device for a few weeks to help press the graft to the heel and speed the healing. He was on it for about 7-10 days and then had it bandaged for another week or so. Overall, it took the heel about 8-10 months to completely heal. Even though it is healed now, it doesnt feel as "normal" when he walks on it but he is adjusting to that "different" feeling. His melanoma came back in June of this year and he now has lesions up and down his calf. We never thought about recurrence and treatments after the surgery as the recovery from the surgery time took so long. I suggest you talk to your father's oncologist about what happens after surgery (i.e. treatment options etc) so you keep the cancer at bay.
Chau
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- October 6, 2011 at 5:42 pm
He does have the c-kit mutation. He was in a clinical trial for a on another c-Kit inhibitor, Dasatinib (Sprycel), for two months and it didnt work. His oncologist said that dasatinib is very similar to Gleevac so he recommended Yervoy instead. So far, he has only one dose of Yervoy. Best of luck to your dad with his surgery and treatment.
Chau
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- October 6, 2011 at 5:42 pm
He does have the c-kit mutation. He was in a clinical trial for a on another c-Kit inhibitor, Dasatinib (Sprycel), for two months and it didnt work. His oncologist said that dasatinib is very similar to Gleevac so he recommended Yervoy instead. So far, he has only one dose of Yervoy. Best of luck to your dad with his surgery and treatment.
Chau
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- October 6, 2011 at 5:42 pm
He does have the c-kit mutation. He was in a clinical trial for a on another c-Kit inhibitor, Dasatinib (Sprycel), for two months and it didnt work. His oncologist said that dasatinib is very similar to Gleevac so he recommended Yervoy instead. So far, he has only one dose of Yervoy. Best of luck to your dad with his surgery and treatment.
Chau
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- October 4, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Hi Shimian,
My father had surgery on his right heel in July 2010 and he had a permanent skin graft taken from his upper thigh to close up the heel. My father also had 2 surgeries for this, the first to take out the tumor, followed by the skin graft about 2-3 weeks later. A temporary skin graft was never discussed with us but based on many of the discussions on this board, it does seem standard to take out a bigger area to make sure they get all the tumors. The surgeon that we used is an oncologist surgeon so I dont think he specialized in the foot or anything like that. After the skin graft was placed on his heel, he was on some kind of device for a few weeks to help press the graft to the heel and speed the healing. He was on it for about 7-10 days and then had it bandaged for another week or so. Overall, it took the heel about 8-10 months to completely heal. Even though it is healed now, it doesnt feel as "normal" when he walks on it but he is adjusting to that "different" feeling. His melanoma came back in June of this year and he now has lesions up and down his calf. We never thought about recurrence and treatments after the surgery as the recovery from the surgery time took so long. I suggest you talk to your father's oncologist about what happens after surgery (i.e. treatment options etc) so you keep the cancer at bay.
Chau
-
- October 4, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Hi Shimian,
My father had surgery on his right heel in July 2010 and he had a permanent skin graft taken from his upper thigh to close up the heel. My father also had 2 surgeries for this, the first to take out the tumor, followed by the skin graft about 2-3 weeks later. A temporary skin graft was never discussed with us but based on many of the discussions on this board, it does seem standard to take out a bigger area to make sure they get all the tumors. The surgeon that we used is an oncologist surgeon so I dont think he specialized in the foot or anything like that. After the skin graft was placed on his heel, he was on some kind of device for a few weeks to help press the graft to the heel and speed the healing. He was on it for about 7-10 days and then had it bandaged for another week or so. Overall, it took the heel about 8-10 months to completely heal. Even though it is healed now, it doesnt feel as "normal" when he walks on it but he is adjusting to that "different" feeling. His melanoma came back in June of this year and he now has lesions up and down his calf. We never thought about recurrence and treatments after the surgery as the recovery from the surgery time took so long. I suggest you talk to your father's oncologist about what happens after surgery (i.e. treatment options etc) so you keep the cancer at bay.
Chau
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- October 7, 2011 at 8:07 am
Hi,I had a wide local excision on my ankle aug 2011 and skin graph along with a groin lymphendectomy sept 12, 2011. The doctor placed me on a wound vac after the first surgery to help close the wound (it was so deep my achilles tendon was exposed). Luckily, the vac worked so well that they were able do a whole or solid graft opposed to the scrape kind.
I had almost no range of motion after the first surgery and went to physical therapy to regain some motion before the tendon healed too short.
After the second surgery I stayed in the hospital six days on complete bed rest to allow the graft to take. There was a big concern about the healing process & the graft given the tricky location. Thankfully the graft has taken 100%. In less than a month I am now able to walk with a cane and expect to regain my full walking ability.
I don’t know where you live, but I highly recommend dr. Merrick Ross at MD Anderson hospital in Houston, TX. He’s the #1 melanoma
surgeon in the U.S.Best wishes to you and your dad. Healing is this area can be slow but it is possible!
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- October 7, 2011 at 8:07 am
Hi,I had a wide local excision on my ankle aug 2011 and skin graph along with a groin lymphendectomy sept 12, 2011. The doctor placed me on a wound vac after the first surgery to help close the wound (it was so deep my achilles tendon was exposed). Luckily, the vac worked so well that they were able do a whole or solid graft opposed to the scrape kind.
I had almost no range of motion after the first surgery and went to physical therapy to regain some motion before the tendon healed too short.
After the second surgery I stayed in the hospital six days on complete bed rest to allow the graft to take. There was a big concern about the healing process & the graft given the tricky location. Thankfully the graft has taken 100%. In less than a month I am now able to walk with a cane and expect to regain my full walking ability.
I don’t know where you live, but I highly recommend dr. Merrick Ross at MD Anderson hospital in Houston, TX. He’s the #1 melanoma
surgeon in the U.S.Best wishes to you and your dad. Healing is this area can be slow but it is possible!
-
- October 7, 2011 at 8:07 am
Hi,I had a wide local excision on my ankle aug 2011 and skin graph along with a groin lymphendectomy sept 12, 2011. The doctor placed me on a wound vac after the first surgery to help close the wound (it was so deep my achilles tendon was exposed). Luckily, the vac worked so well that they were able do a whole or solid graft opposed to the scrape kind.
I had almost no range of motion after the first surgery and went to physical therapy to regain some motion before the tendon healed too short.
After the second surgery I stayed in the hospital six days on complete bed rest to allow the graft to take. There was a big concern about the healing process & the graft given the tricky location. Thankfully the graft has taken 100%. In less than a month I am now able to walk with a cane and expect to regain my full walking ability.
I don’t know where you live, but I highly recommend dr. Merrick Ross at MD Anderson hospital in Houston, TX. He’s the #1 melanoma
surgeon in the U.S.Best wishes to you and your dad. Healing is this area can be slow but it is possible!
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