Steve’s Story

Steve grew up on the warm, sunny beaches of Florida during a time when people did not wear sunscreen. Unfortunately, the sun exposure has come back to plague Steve with numerous skin cancers. Of all the locations one could develop a skin cancer, Steve never thought that his eyes would be affected.

Steve developed a basal cell carcinoma, a cancerous growth, caused in large part by sun exposure, on his lower eyelid. The growth had to be removed. His dermatologist performed the removal via Mohs surgery. The growth was large and required a significant portion (nearly all) of his lower eyelid to be excised; much more than had been anticipated by his dermatologist. In the absence of an eyelid the cornea would dry out, become scarred and even risk the development of an ulcer, severely threatening Steve’s vision. The very capable dermatologist was unable to repair the delicate eyelid structures and referred Steve immediately to Dr. Rona Silkiss, eye patch and all. Within 48 hours Steve underwent the first of a two-stage surgery to reconstruct his absent lower lid. The procedure used was a Hughes eyelid flap. In this surgery, the back portion of the upper eyelid is used as a donor site to reconstruct the lower eyelid. A skin graft is applied. After two weeks, the pedicle graft from the upper to lower eyelid is separated and a new lower eyelid formed. Interestingly, 30 years ago Dr. Silkiss studied these grafts and determined that the pedicle could be opened at two weeks rather than the traditional three months.

Steve is thrilled with the results.

If I didn’t tell people that I had surgery, then they never would’ve even known.

Dr. Silkiss is one of the few Oculofacial Plastic surgeons in the Bay Area. This unique specialty treats all conditions both cosmetic and functional related to the entire area of and around the eyes. This knowledge is communicated to our residents via the CPMC training program for which Dr. Silkiss has been the Chief of the Oculofacial Plastic Surgery Division for over 20 years.

I don’t believe in coincidences, I know it was faith that everything lined up and Dr. Silkiss was available to perform my surgery, just when I critically needed it.