First lady Jill Biden had surgery Wednesday to remove three skin lesions, at least two of which were cancerous, according to a memo from the White House physician.
(Bloomberg) — First lady Jill Biden had surgery Wednesday to remove three skin lesions, at least two of which were cancerous, according to a memo from the White House physician.
The two lesions, found above the first lady’s right eye and the side of her chest, were confirmed to be basal cell carcinoma, White House physician Kevin O’Connor wrote. An additional lesion from her left eyelid was also surgically removed and was being examined, he wrote, but the memo did not say whether it was cancer.
Basal cell carcinoma doesn’t tend to metastasize like more dangerous skin cancers such as melanoma, O’Connor wrote. Jill Biden, 71, is “experiencing some facial swelling and bruising” but is in good spirits, he wrote.
The first lady returned to the White House from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on Wednesday evening, according to her press secretary, Vanessa Valdivia. “She’s doing well,” Valdivia said.
President Joe Biden accompanied his wife to the hospital earlier Wednesday, as he’s done in the past for previous medical treatments, including in 2021 when the first lady had debris removed from her foot after suffering a puncture wound on a beach in Hawaii.
O’Connor said last week that doctors recommended the procedure, known as Mohs surgery, out of an “abundance of caution.”
The Mayo Clinic describes Mohs surgery as a procedure used to treat skin cancer, with doctors cutting away thin layers of skin until there are no signs of cancer.
It is unclear if the first lady has a history of skin cancer, though President Biden has had non-melanoma skin cancers removed.
–With assistance from Jordan Fabian.
(Updates with Jill Biden returning to White House, in fourth paragraph.)
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