“Head & Neck”
Hi,
I’m a 50 yr old white male. I have 4 or 5 painless scabbed sores on my scalp for about 5 months that won’t heal. I have the same type sore inside my nose for 4 months that won’t heal. None are painful and don’t bleed or itch. I have an under-skin lump on left side of neck for 4 months that’s painless.
I saw a Dermatologist three weeks ago for the sores on scalp and he put me on Bactrim 800mg for 10 days (2) pills per day and it did nothing for the sores and neck lump.
My most recent blood work showed high platelets and my WBC count was a tad bit over the high level. My Lymphocytes # was 5.40 and Monocytes # was 1.60. I had a CT scan with contrast last week of the head and neck which showed nothing abnormal. Could this be Cancer? My mom passed two years ago from Melanoma and my dad passed many years ago from Pancreatic Cancer.
I’m a 50 yr old white male. I have 4 or 5 painless scabbed sores on my scalp for about 5 months that won’t heal. I have the same type sore inside my nose for 4 months that won’t heal. None are painful and don’t bleed or itch. I have an under-skin lump on left side of neck for 4 months that’s painless.
I saw a Dermatologist three weeks ago for the sores on scalp and he put me on Bactrim 800mg for 10 days (2) pills per day and it did nothing for the sores and neck lump.
My most recent blood work showed high platelets and my WBC count was a tad bit over the high level. My Lymphocytes # was 5.40 and Monocytes # was 1.60. I had a CT scan with contrast last week of the head and neck which showed nothing abnormal. Could this be Cancer? My mom passed two years ago from Melanoma and my dad passed many years ago from Pancreatic Cancer.
Male | 50 years old
Complaint duration: Months
Medications: Diltiazem, Creon, lisinoptil, Atorvastatin, Omeprazole
Conditions: Chronic Pancreatitis & Gastroparesis
1 Answer
Oncologist
Hello,
You are a 50 y/o man with non healing skin lesions on your head and slump in your neck. You have consulted a dermatologist who clearly thought that this was all due to an infection which he treated with an ineffective antibiotic.
My suggestion is that these lesions can be malignant, perhaps skin cancer. There are other causes of these symptoms such as diabetes. The dermatologist did not feel that there was anything to overly concern him. I am presuming that you have a return appointment with the dermatologist who will need to do more invasive testing to make a diagnosis.
The only way to be certain of the diagnosis is via a biopsy. I would suggest a biopsy of the lump in your neck and possibly a skin biopsy of one of the lesions on your scalp. It may be necessary to send the skin biopsy for cultures at the time that the tissue is collected.
Good luck.
You are a 50 y/o man with non healing skin lesions on your head and slump in your neck. You have consulted a dermatologist who clearly thought that this was all due to an infection which he treated with an ineffective antibiotic.
My suggestion is that these lesions can be malignant, perhaps skin cancer. There are other causes of these symptoms such as diabetes. The dermatologist did not feel that there was anything to overly concern him. I am presuming that you have a return appointment with the dermatologist who will need to do more invasive testing to make a diagnosis.
The only way to be certain of the diagnosis is via a biopsy. I would suggest a biopsy of the lump in your neck and possibly a skin biopsy of one of the lesions on your scalp. It may be necessary to send the skin biopsy for cultures at the time that the tissue is collected.
Good luck.
