A skin lesion removed from President Joe Biden’s chest last month was a common form of skin cancer, President Joe Biden’s doctor said Friday (March 3).
White House physician Kevin O’Connor, a longtime Biden doctor, said “all cancerous tissue was successfully removed” during the president’s routine Feb. 16 physical.
In a letter released Friday, O’Connor said a biopsy confirmed that the excised lesion was a type of basal cell carcinoma, a common type of skin cancer that does not spread rapidly. This slow-growing cancer is usually easy to treat if caught early.
The doctor said the excised site was “healing well” and the president didn’t need any further treatment.
O’Connor said Biden had “several localized non-melanoma skin cancers” removed from his body before becoming president, noting that the president spent a lot of sun in his younger days.
After a physical last month, doctors called the 80-year-old Biden “healthy” and “adequate” to carry out his duties in the White House.
Biden’s wife, Jill Biden, had two basal cell lesions removed in January.
Their son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46.