According to a letter from White House physician Kevin O’Connor, doctors successfully removed cancerous skin tissue from first lady Jill Biden’s chest and face during a scheduled procedure Wednesday.
According to O’Connor, the first lady is “feeling well” and will return to the White House later Wednesday. He added that surgeons removed an additional area of concern from her left eyelid.
The first lady traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, accompanied by President Biden, to have a lesion above her right eye examined and removed in a procedure known as Mohs surgery. Doctors noticed areas of concern on her left eyelid and the left side of her chest before surgery, according to O’Connor.
Basal cell carcinoma, the most common type of skin cancer, was confirmed in both the lesion above her right eye and the lesion on her chest. “All cancerous tissue was successfully removed” in both cases, according to O’Connor.
He mentioned that the lesion from her eyelid was sent for further testing. The extra excisions explained why the first lady was in the hospital for more than seven hours.
“Basal cell carcinoma lesions do not tend to spread or metastasize,’ as some more serious skin cancers such as melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma are known to do,” wrote O’Connor. “They do, however, have the potential to grow in size, resulting in a more significant issue as well as increased surgical removal challenges.”
According to the White House doctor, she is “experiencing some facial swelling and bruising, but is in good spirits and feeling well.”
The first lesion was discovered above the first lady’s right eye during a routine skin cancer screening, according to the White House last week.
