Jill Biden is cancer-free and feels ‘very good’ after her Mohs surgery

Jill Biden is cancer-free after her Mohs surgery, the White House physician announced in an update Wednesday night, but is feeling “very good” after the procedure.

The first lady had lesions removed from her face and chest at Walter Reed National Military Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. At least two of them, one above her right eye and one on the left side of her chest, were determined to be cancerous, but all cancerous tissue was successfully removed.

The one on his left eyelid was sent for a traditional biopsy, but the results were cancer-free, Dr. Kevin O’Connor said in a letter published by East Wing.

“The results are consistent with a seborrheic keratosis,” O’Connor wrote. ‘Seborrheic keratosis is a very common non-cancerous growth, completely harmless. No further treatment is required.’

Seborrheic keratosis is a common non-cancerous skin growth that people tend to get as they age. Seborrheic keratoses are usually brown, black, or light tan in color.

‘dr. Biden is recovering very well from his illness,’ O’Connor said. “He did experience some anticipated light bruising and swelling, but he feels great.”

The first lady was under anesthesia for about five hours for her Mohs surgery, which she had last Wednesday at Walter Reed National Military Hospital.

O’Connor said in a memo last week after her surgery that the first lady was experiencing swelling and bruising on her face.

A lesion was removed above his right eye, which was confirmed to be basal cell carcinoma. The doctors also found a lesion on her chest, which appeared to be a basal cell carcinoma, and the doctors removed it. They later confirmed that it was that type of skin cancer.

“All of the cancerous tissue was successfully removed,” O’Connor said.

Additionally, during the surgery, doctors also removed a lesion on her left eyelid and sent her for further testing. This is the one that turned out to be benign.

President Joe Biden said last week that his wife of 45 years is fine but is in some pain.

‘She’s going to be sore for a while from the work they did on her eyes and, that’s where one of these was. But she has a 0% to 1% chance that she will come back any type of cancer, so she thank God she is doing very well,” she said.

Jill Biden thanked the hospital staff for their care.

Her spokeswoman, Vanessa Valdivia, said in a statement last week that the first lady “sends her love and gratitude to all of the doctors and nurses at Walter Reed for their expertise, care and kindness, and appreciates all who have sent her good wishes and prayers.’

First lady Jill Biden leaves the White House ahead of outpatient surgery to remove a small lesion over her right eye, known as Mohs surgery.

Update from Dr. Kevin O’Connor after Jill Biden’s surgery last Wednesday

Mohs surgery is an outpatient procedure in which thin layers of skin are cut and checked for cancer.

President Biden spent eight hours in the hospital to be with his wife during her procedure.

In his letter last Wednesday, O’Connor noted that “lesions of basal cell carcinoma do not tend to spread or ‘metastasize’ as some more serious skin cancers, such as melanoma or basal cell carcinoma, are known to do. scaly”.

“However, they have the potential to increase in size, resulting in a more significant problem, as well as greater challenges for surgical removal,” he wrote.

The first lady steps off Marine One at the National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Jill Biden, 71, is the oldest first lady in modern American history.

President Biden has accompanied her in two other medical procedures.

Prior to Wednesday’s procedure, Dr. Biden underwent a “common medical procedure” at an outpatient center near the George Washington University campus in April 2021, with no additional details released by the White House.

And, in July 2021, he traveled to Walter Reed to have debris removed from his foot after he stepped on an unnamed object while walking on a beach in Hawaii during a pit stop he made in the state while returning from the Olympics. from Tokyo.

It is not the Biden family’s first brush with cancer.

Beau Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer called glioblastoma in 2013. He died in 2015.