Epidermoid cyst excision on the cheek

This is a lovely patient of mine, who recently completed chemotherapy and radiation treatments due to breast cancer.
She noticed this lump on her cheek that has grown quite rapidly in the last year. I don’t think this cyst appearance or growth is directly related to her recent breast cancer diagnosis or treatment, but I will send this epidermoid cyst that I remove for pathology diagnosis, just to check the tissue just in case. I doubt that there is any cancer in this area… but it is distressing to her to have a bump on the cheek, so it’s understandable to just be on the safe side.
I was pleased that I was able to remove this cyst, creating as small an incision as possible. I had to squeeze most of the cyst contents out of a small opening, to ensure that the incision length would be short.
As many of you know, these epidermoid (also called sebaceous) cysts, are not life threatening, but are mainly concerning because of their appearance, and if there is a history of them getting irritated and/or infected. It’s important to remove the entire cyst, especially the sac the holds the cyst, to prevent recurrence. This surgery is done completely under local anesthesia, the patient is never in any pain or discomfort, and she should go back to normal activity pretty much immediately.

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