A skin biopsy is done when a patch of skin looks suspicious and your doctor wishes to examine it more closely under a microscope. Your doctor may be looking for cancer or other skin conditions. There are multiple ways a biopsy can be taken, some requiring stitches, some with cauterizing and others leaving an open wound. As such, care for your biopsy wound can vary slightly, but with the proper care, the site should heal relatively quick, but may leave a scar.
Different Biopsy Techniques
A common method is the shave biopsy in which a scalpel or razor blade removes a thin layer of the lesion. This motion is done smoothly and parallel to the skin surface.
Another technique is the punch biopsy. Your doctor uses a small, cylindrical punch which he screws into the skin lesion. He punches through the full thickness of the skin and removes a plug of tissue, like drawing out a core sample. For this biopsy method, stitches may be required.
In the scalpel biopsy, the doctor uses a scalpel and makes a standard surgical incision or excision in which he removes tissue for review. Most often, this technique is employed for large or deep lesions. This type of biopsy wound is generally closed with stitches.
Doctors may also employ the scissors biopsy method. Using scissors, doctors snip off surface (or superficial) skin growths and lesions that have formed off a stem (or column) of tissue. These growths are occasionally found on the eyelids or neck.
Care & Healing of a Biopsy Site
After biopsy tissue has been excised, any bleeding may be stopped by applying pressure or by cauterizing the wound by burning it with electricity or chemicals. Your doctor will likely give you an antibiotic ointment to be applied to the wound to prevent infection. Keeping the site moist hastens the healing process. Commonly, you will be instructed when to first clean the wound, clean it, and to reapply the ointment and new dressings, generally a bandage.
In cases involving stitches, your instructions may vary, requiring you to keep the wound bandaged until the stitches are removed. And in other cases, a wound may be bandaged and left to heal naturally.
After the wound has healed into a pink scar, you can apply Vitamin E oil to help reduce the final scar appearance. Do not apply the oil on the wound while the wound is still open.
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