Re: Cataract and skin surgery post FCR ?

[Guest guest]

Ann,

I've had many skin cancer biopsies, (and surgeries) and

while the 'wounds' may heal more slowly, they will heal.

Keeping them clean, and dry and following the doctors wound

care instructions should keep you safe there. IF you

required Moh's surgery that might be put off for a bit,

however not necessarily. but a biopsy should be fine as

long as your doctor is aware of your current counts, all

meds, and your post chemo status.

As for the cataract surgery, your opthamology surgeon has

probably dealt with many patients who have medical conflicts

such as, chemo, diabetes, heart conditions requiring

medications such as blood thinners, etc so he'd be able to

handle this if he feels the surgery is needed now. Of the

two, just on the basis of which to pay attention to first,

my vote is for the skin cancer. Unless the cataracts are in

a place that required immediate attention to avoid loss of

sight. AK on the other hand CAN be aggressive, tho not all

are. If the suspicious lesions appear to be progressing at

all, I would not wait. the sooner they are biopsied the

better off you'd be. Alternatively, you could ask your

dermatologist to see you once every few weeks for now.

monitor the lesions and biopsy those that appear to be

progressing.

wishing you the best, beth fillman

[Guest guest]

Hi Ann:

I'm married to an ophthalmologist. He says, in general, as

long as you're not receiving radiation or actively having

chemo, there shouldn't be any issues with having the

cataract removed. He does stress that never ever have a

cataract removed unless it is negatively affecting your

vision. (Whether you have CLL or not). There are a few

surgeons out there who will remove a cataract even though

the person has excellent vision--which makes no sense. It's

not worth the operative risk.

Of course, this is all general advice. As I'm sure you

know, your ophthalmologist who does the actual surgery will

do a pre-op work-up to determine if it's safe to proceed,

etc. The main concern is that being immunocompromised,

you're more apt to have an infection. If you don't have a

general ophthalmologist, your hematologist/oncologist or

your optometrist may be able to refer you to one.

Alternatively, the AAO has a website called

http://www.aao.org/aao/find_eyemd.cfm or you can try

HealthGrades or one of the millions of websites out there.

Oh...don't let them sell you the $3,000 lens--even if cost

is not an issue for you. Most people are much happier with

the generic non-fancy lens that Medicare pays for. If

you're sure you want the fancy lens, let them give you a

contact which mimics the lens for a week or so to be sure

that you're truly comfortable with it.

[Guest guest]

Ann, I had cataracts removed during the watch and wait period

which went perfectly. The vision improvement is wonderful.

YuVonnna