Why Should I Have a Skin Biopsy?

Skin cancer. How do you know when you yourself have it? Ever wonder about this spot in your foot? Could it be new? Has it changed? Does it bleed? Is it darker then it was before?

Growths (lesions) or discolorations of your skin occur throughout the body, including the feet. So, it is not surprising whenever your podiatrist requests that you ought to have a biopsy to help determine the exact nature of the lesion in your foot. Often, more serious life-threatening skin problems that appear on the feet are assumed to be warts, calluses or blisters. Unless these skin lesions are biopsied and delivered to a skin pathologist for examination under a microscope, there is a great chance that the true diagnosis will be missed. The biopsy will determine the precise nature and true diagnosis of your skin problem, and will see if the lesion is malignant or benign Pulmonary Function Testing FL.

There are several kinds of skin biopsies which can be performed by your podiatrist in the office. They're called: Punch, Shave and Excisional biopsies. The method performed depends on the location of the problem area and the kind of skin lesion that's being investigated. All the time, the biopsy is done to get rid of a tiny part of the skin in order to send a specimen to the lab for special staining and subsequent examination beneath the microscope.

Things you may anticipate if you have a skin biopsy:

Most skin biopsies are performed in the office. After the injection of local anesthetic, the task itself shouldn't be painful. Once the area is numbed by the anesthesia skin is cleansed to avoid infection. Next, the physician will work with a surgical instrument to remove all or area of the skin lesion. A blade is employed for Shave or Excisional biopsies and a cylindrical cookie-cutter kind of instrument is used for the Punch biopsy. After the skin sample is taken, an anti-bleeding solution is applied. In rare occasions, one or two stitches may be needed to close the wound. The physician then will apply a bandage within the wound.

The bandage is left set up until the very next day when routine wound care can be started at home. There's hardly any post-procedure pain from these biopsies and patients may need to take Tylenol once the anesthesia wears off.

Now it is approximately two weeks since you had the biopsy and it is time for you to go back to the doctor's office for a wound check and, most importantly, learn the result of your biopsy. Usually, the final diagnosis from the biopsy taken at work will take around seven to ten days to return to the doctor. A doctor will go over your results from the report he received from the lab and review the treatment for your condition. I declare that all patients have a copy of the lab report due to their personal records. Now you have your answer, hope the news headlines was good.

Other reasons for having a biopsy:

Have you had redness and itching on your feet? Do you have coin size patches on the feet? Have you got skin lesions with small dark spots? Maybe you have used over-the-counter fungal creams and not seen improvement? Have you got a location in your foot that's drier, scalier, thicker or darker than your normal skin?

* To ascertain the cause of skin problem. Biopsy can let the physician know if skin problem is being brought on by disease, such as for instance fungus, verses an inflammatory condition like dermatitis. Also referring to the case above, to ascertain if the problem is a cancerous verses a benign growth.

* To accurately form the most effective span of treatment for your skin condition. If caused by the test shows you can find no fungal elements, then anti-fungal agents would be useless in treating this condition. Also, if the end result shows that skin problem is from a fungus, using anti-bacterial such as for example polysorin or anti-inflammatory agents like steroid creams could be useless Caused by the analysis might also declare that the whole lesion be removed because this problem may have a chance of turning into a cancerous condition in the future.

* Biopsies can determine if the hard strange skin on your foot is really a callus or a plantar wart. Knowing this can help appropriately treat the condition.