General
My Skin Cancer Journey Post-Kidney Transplant
January 28, 2026
in General
Hey, everyone. I'm almost twelve years post-kidney transplant. I've had a few run-ins with skin cancer, including two diagnoses in rapid succession recently. These led to repeat Mohs surgeries, painful recoveries, and wound complications.
I decided to recount my skin cancer experiences, lessons learned, and advice for other organ transplant recipients in a new blog post for TransplantLyfe:
https://www.transplantlyfe.com/education/blog/grateful-but-still-human
If anyone else has experience with this aspect of living with a transplant, feel free to share below.
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I have had my transplant for 41 years and had mohs surgery 1 time, October of 2018. It was so painful and yes I learned my lesson after it. I go to the dermatologist every 3 months and have places frozen off. I don’t want to ever go through that again. Finding a good dermatologist that you trust is very important. Stay out of the sun and if you have to be out in it wear sunscreen and long sleeves.
Kimberly, 41 years is tremendous...congrats! I couldn't agree more with the importance of being screened routinely! I've had plenty of skin lesions proactively frozen off as well.
Hey @onlylivingboyinny,
All I can say is "OUCH!" and "OH! My!" Hope you are feeling better now and your dermis has calmed down. That IS an ordeal you went through. I was "cautioned" by my Cardiologist at one of my post transplant visits about skin cancer. When I started looking into it, the high risk of developing skin cancer freaked me out. I didn't want a bunch of chemicals, so I went with the zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Being at risk, motivated me to write an article for my hospital transplant newsletter - Make "SPF your BFF" I also read and quoted our very own Sam Dey! - (who wrote a great article by the way). I promote and encourage sunscreen at all my volunteer tabling events :), started a hat collection and have given up on my California tan. I'll be beige from now on. 😀
I actually JUST came home from having my leg sutures removed and fingers crossed the wound heals well and stays closed (as wounds are supposed to haha). I'm getting my second round of head sutures out next week. I didn't have a "skin care" routine until last year when I found a good daily cream with a built-in SPF. I'm glad to have a derm team I can see pretty much whenever I want and that peace of mind has made a world of difference.
Transplant Patient
@GarciaChau , hopefully I can see yout hat collection some day! 👍
@onlylivingboyinny , I hope you're all healed and I hope your Dermi doesn't find more thingamajigs anywhere on you. 🤞
Last month, I too went to my Dermi for my complete screening. Thankfully, all 💚 🟩 once again. So far so good!! (11 - 0).
I'll reiterate, like all the others; it is imperative to get checked by the dermatologist, annually at a minimum. Let's all be compliant, stay safe and protect ourselves.
@Sdey0522 I'm happy to say all my sutures are out and things are healing well! I'll see my team in April for a routine screening!