Skin Cancer and Surgery

[Tapps]

Question: Why must I be off of Ibrutinib three days before, and three days after, surgery for skin cancer.

Basal Cell on my nose ?

Mohs Surgery

[GMa27]

You always have to go off Ibrutinib for any procedures, surgery or dental work. Bleeding factor.

[Tapps in reply to GMa27]

Just concerned, I don’t want the the Leukemia cells to grow.

[GMa27 in reply to Tapps]

They may a tiny bit but it's ok for most. And it's temporary. Worse to not stop it.

[Tapps in reply to GMa27]

Thank you, have a good week.

[catnapcrew in reply to Tapps]

My husband has this concern so much so the first time he didn’t stop the ibrutinib as instructed and they couldn’t do the procedure as even the needle prick site for the numbing was bleeding. Next time he stopped a day before and then took them straight after procedure (at his usual time). He bled for days out of the sites and they took forever to heal. Next time he stopped 2 days beforehand and then continued after procedure- same issues. This time he’s following the rules and stopped them 3 days beforehand and assured me he won’t start back up for 4 days. He’s off now for the procedure. His platelets usually hover around 100 on ibrutinib. So basically what I’m telling you is the bleed risk and further complications are real and there doesn’t seem to be a way around it - not for him anyway. Good luck and don’t stress. The docs say to stop it for this time and then restart / follow their instructions and get your skin cancer cut out safely.

[Tapps in reply to catnapcrew]

Your information is most helpful, I appreciate the details. Guess I’m just a detail person. Have a good week.

[catnapcrew in reply to Tapps]

We r “detail” people too which is why we r happy to share. Reading other people’s journeys has really really helped us make choices and put our minds at ease. Knowledge is power.

[Tapps in reply to catnapcrew]

So true ✅