# I look like I have AIDS (Basal Cell Carcinoma) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 23, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-look-like-i-have-aids-basal-cell-carcinoma/427543 "2007-11-23T22:06:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-look-like-i-have-aids-basal-cell-carcinoma/427543/1 "2007-11-23T22:06:25Z")
Not that I have it, it just looks like I do. I went to a dermatologist on Wednesday to get a spot on my neck biopsied (Basal Cell Carcinoma - not a big deal) and after he did that, he said “We may as well take care of this spot and this spot and…” All of them are pre-cancerous but if left alone may well turn into more cancers. So he went to town with the liquid nitrogen to freeze off the surface skin cells and now my face is covered with small circular sores. It looks like Karposi’s Sarcoma, common in AIDS patients. I guess it’s a good thing that it’s a long weekend - I don’t really want to go out in public looking like this. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-look-like-i-have-aids-basal-cell-carcinoma/427543/2 "2007-11-23T22:16:28Z")
My condolences. Were you HIV + before, and only now meeting the criteria for HIV? I’ve got patients who technically have AIDS based on such skin findings, and many of them are doing well years later with high CD4 counts and low viral loads. I assume you have a good HIV specialist… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-look-like-i-have-aids-basal-cell-carcinoma/427543/3 "2007-11-23T22:18:29Z")
Sorry, dude. I mean, I know you don’t have AIDS, but I don’t even like walking around with a bad zit. See, this is why guys need concealer, too! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-look-like-i-have-aids-basal-cell-carcinoma/427543/4 "2007-11-23T22:22:22Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] My condolences. Were you HIV + before, and only now meeting the criteria for HIV? I’ve got patients who technically have AIDS based on such skin findings, and many of them are doing well years later with high CD4 counts and low viral loads. I assume you have a good HIV specialist… [/QUOTE] No, I am not HIV +, and am unlikely to ever be, I am not in any of the risk groups for it. I was saying that the appearance of my face might give someone the impression that I do have AIDS. I just happened to look at myself in the mirror and was shocked to see that the spots that were dry and scaly this morning are now bright red and scary-looking. Sorry for the confusion, but I guess I invited it with that thread title, didn’t I? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-look-like-i-have-aids-basal-cell-carcinoma/427543/5 "2007-11-23T22:25:11Z")
From over here it doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-look-like-i-have-aids-basal-cell-carcinoma/427543/6 "2007-11-23T22:29:11Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] From over here it doesn’t. [/QUOTE] I’m facing north. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-look-like-i-have-aids-basal-cell-carcinoma/427543/7 "2007-11-24T08:25:40Z")
I initially read the OP the same as **Qadgop** , maybe it’s a doctor thing. Anyway, a better title might have been ‘I look like I have AIDS’ instead of ‘It’… ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-look-like-i-have-aids-basal-cell-carcinoma/427543/8 "2007-11-24T13:42:08Z")
Your thread title was pretty misleading, **Lamar Mundane** , so I edited it to make sure others didn’t think you actually have AIDS. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-look-like-i-have-aids-basal-cell-carcinoma/427543/9 "2007-11-24T14:58:22Z")
Out of the dozens of patients with AIDS that I’ve seen, only one had Kaposi’s sarcoma - and he did wear a very well-matching concealing makeup typically. That might just be my “sample selection,” though. Are you looking particularly gaunt? For me that’s a better clue. Glad to hear you got the skin cancer taken care of relatively easily. Last time I had a lesion with pre-cancerous cell changes taken care of (a haloed nevus), they cut it off and stitched the skin back together - but it wasn’t on my face. I’m hoping they would have used a different method if that’d been the case.