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The cancerous tissue removed from President Joe Biden’s chest during his recent physical is a common but relatively harmless type of skin cancer.
A biopsy confirmed that the lesion was basal cell carcinoma, Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, said in a memo released Friday by the White House.
No other treatment is required, O’Connor wrote.
More:President Biden had basal cell cancerous tissue removed from his chest, White House saysWhat is basal cell carcinoma?
Basal cell carcinoma often appears in the head and neck area, which are often the most exposed to the ultraviolet rays of the sun, according to the Mayo Clinic.
It forms in the basal cells, which are responsible for producing new skin cells as older ones die off, the Mayo Clinic said.
“It almost never spreads inside the body or anything scary like that,” said Dr. Abigail Waldman, director of the Mohs and Dermatologic Surgery Center at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
First Lady Jill Biden underwent a medical procedure in January to remove two lesions – one above her right eye, the other on the left side of her chest. Doctors confirmed that the lesions were basal cell carcinoma. A third lesion on her left eyelid was removed as a precaution and sent for standard microscopic examination.
