Jill Biden, the first lady, had two cancerous tumors in her eye and chest removed.
Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the doctor for President Joe Biden, made the announcement in a press release.
According to O’Connor’s records, Dr. Biden underwent an outpatient Mohs operation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center “to remove and analyze a tiny lesion above her right eye.”
Doctors discovered that the lesion was a sort of basal cell carcinoma, which is the most common type of skin cancer, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
In addition, O’Connor said that he will “watch the area attentively as it heals” and that “all malignant tissues was effectively removed.” There were no skin cancer cells at all in the margins.
She won’t need any extra surgery, in his opinion.
The first lady’s left eyelid was also determined to have “a well-circumscribed, tiny lesion” by medical personnel during the surgery. O’Connor said that it was successfully taken out and “submitted for routine microscopic analysis.”
Doctors also found a basal cell carcinoma-containing lesion. O’Connor claimed that it had been “effectively eliminated.”
Contrary to more serious types of skin cancer like melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma lesions aren’t known to “spread,” he added.
They might grow bigger and harder to get rid of, according to O’Connor.
Jill Biden, who “is experiencing some facial swelling and bruising, but is in excellent spirits and is feeling well,” will return to the White House “later today,” according to O’Connor, once she recovers.
O’Connor stated in a press release that the lesions were discovered “during a routine skin cancer screening” by medical personnel in an email to Valdivia earlier this month.
In a letter to the American public that was sent among people on World Cancer Day, Biden wrote: “Life is busy. In addition to everything else that has been going on in our lives these past two years, there has been a global epidemic. There is a never-ending to-do list, work, kids, parents, commuting, and errands.”
She said, “I get it. The last thing you want to do or have time for is a cancer screening. However, on this World Cancer Day, I beg you to give your health a temporary higher priority. If you’re like millions of other Americans, you may have neglected to get a pap smear, colonoscopy, mammogram, or any important cancer screening in the last two years of the pandemic, but cancer doesn’t stop for COVID.”
In light of this, Biden advised, “If you’ve put off going to the doctor, schedule your appointment now. Don’t wait any longer.”
The first lady and her family have been outspoken about how cancer has touched their lives and encouraged them to work to decrease the harm it causes since the president’s son Beau passed suddenly from brain cancer in 2015.
She said in her most recent letter, which she signed with the letters “XO, Jill,” that “Cancer hits all of us in some manner, and it doesn’t care whether you’re busy.”
