(Washington) Doctors on Wednesday removed two cancerous growths from US First Lady Jill Biden, who is “feeling fine” after her surgery, they said.
“All cancerous tissue was successfully removed […] We will be monitoring the area closely as it heals, but do not anticipate any further procedures being required,” Presidential Physician Kevin O’Connor said in a note.
A “small lesion” on Jill Biden’s left eyelid was “completely removed” and “sent for standard microscopic examination”, he added.
During the procedure, doctors discovered another lesion on the left side of Jill Biden’s bust, which also turned out to be cancerous and was removed.
The first lady presented after the operation “a swelling of the face and bruises”, but “feels well”, indicated Kevin O’Connor.
She returned to the White House in the evening, announced her spokeswoman Vanessa Valdivia.
Accompanied by her husband Joe Biden on Wednesday, she had boarded the presidential helicopter Marine One in the morning to go to Walter Reed military hospital, near Washington.
The White House has confirmed that she has a “scheduled outpatient surgery procedure, known as Mohs surgery.”
This procedure, which takes place under local anesthesia, is considered extremely effective in eradicating the formation of skin cancer, if it takes place early enough.
The presidential doctor, Kevin O’Connor, announced on January 4 the discovery, “during a routine screening for skin cancer, (of) a small lesion […] above the eye of the first lady”.
“As a precaution, the doctors recommended that it be removed,” wrote the doctor.
Jill Biden, 71, is the oldest first lady in US history, while her 80-year-old husband is also the oldest tenant in White House history.
Cancer is a personal cause for Joe Biden, whose son Beau died in 2015 of brain cancer, and who made reducing the death rate from the disease a “presidential priority”.