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S K I N C A N C E R F O U N D A T I O N J O U R N A L
Covert Ops: Skin Cancer Surgery
in the Reagan White House
In the mid-1980s, with
the Cold War simmer-
ing, the United States
was pulling out all the
stops to prevent Iron
Curtain countries from
discovering our state
secrets. But one secret
was meant to be kept
from the American
public: President Ronald
Reagan's skin cancers.
oth in 1985 and 1987, Drs. Martin Braun
and Harry L. (Ted) Parlette removed
basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) from
President Ronald Reagan's nose. The
President had been an athlete and out-
doorsman who spent much of his life in California's blaz-
ing sun, which left him highly vulnerable to skin cancer.
It caught up to him in 1985. The Presidents' physicians
invited two esteemed practitioners of Mohs micrographic
surgery to the White House, since cure rates with Mohs
surgery for BCC, squamous cell carcinoma, and certain
other skin cancers are the highest of any method. It is
also an excellent technique for small areas around the
face, so it was ideal for the President's skin cancer. [ See
"Why Mohs Surgery?" on page 50. ] Plus, Drs. Parlette
and Braun were local, so they could easily come back and
forth to the White House for surgery and follow-up away
from reporters' prying eyes.
Getting the Call
I
n the fall of 1985, early in President Reagan's second
term, Dr. Braun, Past President of the American College
of Mohs Surgery, received a call from Admiral William
Narva, Chairman of Dermatology at the National Naval
Medical Center, in Bethesda, MD. Before Narva would say
why he was calling, he extracted a promise of secrecy. "The
President had just healed from colon cancer surgery, and they
were sick of surgeons criticizing one another for mismanag-
ing the operation, so they wanted this kept from everybody,"
Dr. Braun recalls. "I said I'd just tell my wife," and Dr. Narva
Health
C. William Hanke, MD
Photo
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Getty
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