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Surgeons removed a cancerous lesion above first lady Jill Biden’s right eye and chest while examining a third on her left eyelid, the White House said on Wednesday.
Dr. Kevin O’Connor, President Joe Biden’s physician, said tests showed that the lesion in Jill Biden’s right eye and a newly discovered lesion on her chest were both confirmed to be basal cell carcinoma.
According to Dr. O’Connor’s report, the lesion on her left eyelid was “completely excised, margined, and sent for standard microscopic examination.”
Basal cell carcinoma is the most curable skin cancer. It’s a slow-growing cancer that’s usually confined to the surface of the skin — doctors can almost always remove it all through shallow incisions — and rarely causes serious complications or is life-threatening.
The Bidens spent the day at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, while the 71-year-old first lady underwent a scheduled outpatient procedure, a Mohs procedure, to remove and examine the lesion.
After nearly eight hours in the hospital, the president returned to the White House alone; the first lady was expected to follow later in the evening.
Dr O’Connor said the first lady “has experienced some facial swelling and bruising but is in good spirits and feeling well”.
Her office announced a week ago that doctors had discovered the lesion during a recent routine skin cancer screening.
In a Jan. 4 memo released by the first lady’s office last week, Dr. O’Connor said she would undergo “a common outpatient procedure known as a Mohs procedure to remove and ultimately examine tissue.”
The surgery involves cutting away thin layers of skin and examining each layer for signs of cancer. Doctors keep removing layers of skin and examining them until there are no signs of cancer.
Dr. O’Connor wrote in the memo that doctors recommended that Jill Biden’s lesion be removed “with great caution.”
The delicate skin around the eyes is especially vulnerable to the sun’s ultraviolet rays, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
The surgery was scheduled for the morning after the Bidens returned from Mexico City, where the president held two days of talks with Mexican and Canadian leaders.
In April 2021, the first lady underwent a medical procedure that the White House described only as “ordinary.” No details were provided.
The president accompanied her to an outpatient center near the George Washington University campus and returned to the White House about two hours later.
Biden also accompanied the first lady to Walter Reed Hospital for outpatient treatment in July 2021 after her left foot was punctured while walking on a beach in Hawaii. After attending the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, she stopped in Hawaii for official events.
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