Eyelid Cancer

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Virtually all light skinned individuals living in temperate or tropical climates will have a cancerous or pre-cancerous skin lesion during the course of their lives. These are most common on the face, ears, arms and legs. In all cases early detection and treatment is needed to avoid disfigurement or aggressive complicated surgery. One needs to ensure complete cancer removal, then see what the remaining defect is and then repair that defect with like tissue without creating a deformed donor area.

There are 9 options for repairing a lower eyelid defect that employ like tissue from either eyelid, the side of the nose or the cheek. In this case basal cell cancer was removed leaving a skin only defect. A skin graft was harvested from the upper eyelid leaving her with a good functional result. Just suturing the hole was not an option as it would have deformed the lower eyelid. More severe cases require replacement of eyelid muscle and/or inner lining.