Call back for mole on cheek

[snaggletoothmoose]

Hi, please be gentle with me. I'm really worried. I went to GP with brown 'liver spot' on my cheek and I gave been called back to a hospital outpatients dermatology clinic within the 2 week emergency timing. The GP took a picture of the mark with a special dermatology camera and sent it off do the specialists have seen it.
They obviously think it's skin cancer.
Please, if you have had any experience of what might happen at my appointment and are willing to share your experiences, I'd really appreciate hearing your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

Please try not worry, you’ll be absolutely fine. I had a basal cell carcinoma on my back and my friends recently had 2 removed from her face.

At the first appointment they’ll give your skin a thorough check over (so wear your good undies). Then you’ll probably be referred to have the lesion removed. It’s an in and out jobby, it won’t take long. It’ll be done under local anaesthetic. They’ll send the tissue off for testing and then they’ll let you know if it was cancerous and that’s it. You’ll be fine and my friends face has healed fantastically well.

Oh bless you @retainertrainer thank you for taking the time out to post. It's the details of what might happen that's really helpful. Do you know if you it your friends were called back under the '2 week response' type rule?

And thanks for the underwear tip 

My mam had one and they just gave her some chemotherapy cream to put on at home and it kind of burnt it off. She's fine now

As it is on your face they will use tiny stitches to minimise scarring too. I had a dodgy mole removed from my face and the scarring is very very faint.

No probs. Yes we were both seen within 2 weeks. I had mine removed pretty quickly afterwards but my friend had to wait another couple of months.

Thanks @TheFuckfaceWhisperer that's amazing! I didn't even know that was a thing. I'm too scared to google too much as it'll send me over the edge.

Great user name, by the way!

@MrsSchadenfreude that's good to know too, thanks. I hadn't even got as far as wondering if it would scar. Just stricken with fear really.
@retainertrainer it's the fact they've called me back within the 2 weeks that has especially scared me, so thanks for that info 

I think the cream depends on age as my friend asked about it and they said because she was young they’d have to surgically remove it (she’s 37). She said she was relieved to have it gone quickly though and she’s been pleased with the result.

It's very much a routine procedure (a relative is a dermatologist and to them its a daily task).

A GP is a general practitioner - so I'm assuming didn't look at the mole with the special gadgets (don't know what they are called but either a handheld magnifying glass with lights, or what looks like welders goggles).

If it's something new then the doctor will send you along to a specialist. Our GP sent us along to a clinic for DS as he as a huge mole - it is just a mole/birthmark. I was talking to my relative about it and he looked with his goggles and pronounced it absolutely fine.

Rather get it checked by a specialist than a GP. Then you will be confident of the diagnosis. I know it's scary to get a callback - my doctor has sent me directly to the hospital twice 🙄 for absolutely nothing (I know better safe than sorry - but I'm sure it's because they don't really know what was wrong and didn't want me to drop dead in the waiting room).

All potential cancers are called back under the 2 week wait appointment description no matter how likely they are or how serious. The aim is to treat all as serious until proven otherwise for safeties sake.

The majority of dermatology call backs are non cancerous.

I had basal cell carcinoma removed 13 years ago and it was a pretty simple process, but now the cream can be used I'd give that a try given the option. My friend found it very successful and great for lack of scarring.

Good luck

I had a lump come up on my lip, which was removed with some urgency. It turned out to be pre-cancerous. They had to take quite a large margin around the lump, and the site looked a little alarming straight after, but within a few weeks it healed up and was invisible.
My dad had lots of cancerous skin growths removed. Nothing else happened to him (he died of something else), but he had to keep a close check on his skin for any further eruptions.
So really op, you will be fine. It's when people ignore these things that it can go wrong. Please don't worry.

The 2 week referral is standard for anything that they suspect is cancerous. It’s a scary word but once it’s gone it’s gone. They’ll advise you to wear sunscreen religiously and keep out of the sun although in the summer. Ironically both my friend and I have never been sun worshipers. Jus bad luck I suppose.

@FekkoThePenguin and @GoldenBlue thanks that's all good to know and it's really helpful to have some sensible perspective. Thank you.

@Lucisky thanks for posting. It's good to know that the removal and the recovery was quick for you. And that your Dad has an eye kept on him. Thanks for sharing.

Try not to worry. My dh recently went to the GP with a couple of suspect growths on his skin. They told him they would send him to the dermatologist under the 2 week thing not because they were especially worried by what they saw but because otherwise the wait would be months. Dh saw the dermatologist who was also not sure about the growths but said he would take them out anyway. Appointment came within weeks again. He had the surgery under local anaesthetic last week. No big deal at the time though he has needed painkillers a few times since. The growths are being sent off for analysis but the expectation is that even if they are cancerous, they have now been dealt with. Dh is Australian and this sort of thing is pretty commonplace for them. Pretty much everyone has something removed at some time In their life, look at Hugh Jackman.

@Dumbledoresgirl thanks for this. I'm glad your dh is doing well. It's really useful to have the perspective and I feel so much better about what might happen this week from all the comments on this thread.

Thanks so much everybody.

I'm off to google Hugh Jackman now (any excuse )

They don't obviously think it's cancer.
They can't rule cancer out yet, though.
Some huge high % will not be cancer but cancer can't be ruled out without a direct examination.

This thread reminds me I have a seborrhic kerotosis to check.

I’ve had malignant melanoma and quite a lot of my family have died from it. They now whisk off anything that looks odd or comes up unexpectedly. It really is better to be safe than sorry. Several of my relatives died because their melanomas didn’t look like melanoma- instead of black and ragged, theirs were more a lack of pigment (as was mine). But most of the moles I’ve had removed have been benign. The one on my face has hardly scarred at all.