Chance Encounter Leads to Non-invasive Skin Cancer Treatment
March 22, 2024
Shortly after Diane Blaszka started her new job as a director of institutional giving with Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation in the winter of 2022, she was walking through Hackensack Meridian Ocean University Medical Center’s Radiation Oncology department with hospital leaders during a site visit.
There, at the nurses’ station, a brochure on specialized radiation therapy (Leipzig) for skin cancer caught Diane’s eye. She had a family history of skin cancer—her father struggled with multiple surgeries, and she already had a prior cancerous spot removed—so she picked up the brochure. She thought it might be useful to her or her family members someday in the future.
A year later, Diane found herself rereading that saved brochure after biopsies of multiple skin-colored waxy bumps on her face showed evidence of basal cell carcinoma.
Non-invasive Treatment for Skin Cancer
Diane was intrigued by the benefits of brachytherapy, a targeted form of radiation used to treat small lesions of less than 1.5 centimeters of non-melanoma skin cancer, such as basal and squamous cell carcinomas.
“Brachytherapy is a non-invasive procedure that takes approximately five minutes to set up and treat each spot, and the cosmetic outcome is excellent,” says Prashant Desai, M.D., medical director of Radiation Oncology at Ocean University Medical Center and the radiation oncologist who treated Diane. “Unlike with surgery, there’s no cutting, so there are no scars. You usually can’t tell if a patient has had radiation.”
After conducting a lot of research and talking with multiple Moh’s surgeons and her dermatologist, Diane met with Dr. Desai and his team to learn about the procedure and to find out if she was a candidate for it.
“When I met with Dr. Desai, he was very reassuring,” Diane says. “Dr. Desai and the nurses shared the remarkable successes that other patients have experienced with the procedure, and I thought it was worth a shot.”
Diane went to Ocean twice a week for four weeks for a total of eight treatments. “It was a very warm and welcoming environment, which is nice because you feel very vulnerable with all the machinery,” Diane says, adding that Dr. Desai and his team were supportive and reassuring. “Dr. Desai was present for every single one of my eight treatments. I was only there for about 10 minutes each day, but he always came in to check on things before the treatments and to say good morning. And then he would come back to check my face before I left to make sure my skin looked healthy.”
No Long-term Scars or Redness After Treatment
About two weeks after Diane finished her treatments, she called Dr. Desai’s office in a panic. The areas of treatment on her face were blistering and cracking. “I’ll be honest,” she says, “I was scared by how I looked.” His team told her to come in for a check.
“We don’t usually see that kind of extreme reaction. Usually, it’s like a sunburn that then goes away,” Dr. Desai says. “But for some people, like Diane, their skin may be more sensitive and have a stronger reaction.”
Dr. Desai reassured Diane that he expected the reaction to go away within a week. “And almost to the day, it started to take a turn for the better,” Diane says. “Now, you can’t even tell I had anything done, which is much preferable than having potential scarring in multiple areas.”
“When you are dealing with treatments on your face, it’s super intimidating,” Diane says. “I feel very fortunate that Hackensack Meridian Health is on the cutting edge of this with Dr. Desai and his dream team of kind and skilled experts—and that I grabbed that brochure that day. I have been telling a lot of people to look into this alternative.”
Next Steps & Resources
- Meet our source: Prashant Desai, M.D.
- To make an appointment with an oncologist near you, call 800-822-8905 or visit our website.
- Schedule a cancer screening near you
- Learn about cancer care at Hackensack Meridian Health
The material provided through HealthU is intended to be used as general information only and should not replace the advice of your physician. Always consult your physician for individual care.
