Mole

[hairymuffet]

Hi.
Does this mole look dodgy?
I know you can't diagnose me over the Internet
I have requested a GP appointment
Just looking for general opinions.

Hey ! I can’t offer much advice as I’m in the same situation with a mole of my own just following for any info!
Have you had your mole for long ?

With moles, the important thing is to know what is normal for YOU. Do you have any other moles like that?
Always get a mole checked out, if in doubt.

(your mole looks just like mine, so I wouldn't be concerned if I had one like that - I have about 10 like that! But always best to check them out if you are worried)

I've had a few melanomas in situ (earliest stage) and they were all new, small and v dark. They were ugly ducklings - they looked different to my other moles in the surrounding areas of skin. I would always say best to get checked - early diagnosis save lives!

I’ve had mine for as long as I can remember it’s only about 4mm and I don’t think it has changed at least not enough to notice over the years. I definitely have no other moles like that as I don’t even have that many moles. I’d say it definitely follows the “ugly duckling” rule for myself. I never paid mine much attention but have been trying dresses on for a wedding this summer and starting looking up moles like mine and of course worst cases came up. I’m having mine checked middle of next month it was the soonest I could get in. Fingers crossed it’s nothing serious! I definitely wish I knew to have it checked sooner

I've had a few cut out and obviously you need to see your gp but I wouldn't be worried at all about that. It doesn't look very big so if it was they would just cut it out and probably not even ask to see you again!
The new guides are ugly duckling but doesn't mean it's melanoma. Your skin grows so many odd things.

@whereamu the ones you had removed, were they new? Any symptoms with them or were they just removed by the looks of them? My heads just going to worst case as I’ve had mine for so long

I was diagnosed with a melanoma (Stage 1B) last year. Mine was a new (pink) lesion, rather than evolving from an existing mole.

Since then I have had 8 moles removed due to looking atypical (redhead and fair-skinned). All have come back as either normal or mild/moderately dysplastic, rather than cancerous. In my experience, I would be more concerned about any new lesion, rather than a long-term mole that hadn't grown (quickly) in either shape or size, changed colour or become itchy/crusted over.

However, always best to get anything you are concerned about checked out.

The rule to follow is ABCDE my melanoma was an existing mole that changed colour and shape, try not to worry, but do get checked, it’s worth emailing a photo to your GP if you can.

A – Asymmetry: One half is unlike the other half.
B – Borders: Irregular, scalloped, or poorly defined border
C – Color: Varied from one area to another (shades of tan or brown, black, red, white, or blue)
D – Diameter: Diameter of 6mm or larger (size of a pencil eraser)
E – Evolution: Looks different from the rest, or is changing in size, color, or shape

@AConvivialHost im sorry about your diagnosis! Hope your doing well now !

As far as the ones you had removed for being atypical would you say sort of like mine that you had had for a long time? (I attached pics on previous post)
and when they did come back dysplastic was there no further treatment needed after removal?
sorry I know a lot of questions I’ve just never had anything skin related even looked at before so I’m completely new to all of it. I’m fair skinned as well and stupidly used tanning beds when I was younger so you know your mind instantly goes to worst case scenarios!

@Confusedasnormal im sorry about your diagnosis! I hope it was caught early and your doing fine!
I feel as mine dose check off some of the abcde’s for sure but I think it always has. Can’t say I focused to much on it before but I definitely remember years ago thinking it looked funny but being so young and uneducated in those things I left it which of course makes me worry more!

If it’s not changed I would be less worried, but you need to get it checked either way..it’s always an anxious time when you are waiting for a check. I’ve had lots that were fine, but it only takes one not to be.

All you can do in the meantimes is take vitamin D, wear factor 50 and try and put it out of your mind until you get the results

@FairyBatman thanks! Your totally right!
I can’t get into the doctor until middle of next month so I just need to try and not worry until then. Nothing more I can do

@Ck189 It's difficult to tell size without a pic next to a ruler, but I would say that the moles that came back as dysplastic were larger and more variegated than the images above. I had to have a wider excision of one of them, due to concerns regarding margins, but no further action required on the others.

I had terrible health anxiety before I was diagnosed, but once I had received 'bad' news, I was actually ok. You have a plan and you just take it step by step.

If you've had yours for so long and you haven't noticed a change, then the likelihood is it's just an 'ugly duckling', but you're doing the right thing by getting it checked.

@AConvivialHost
Thanks I appreciate all the info! Mine measures just 4mm. I’m assuming my doctor will probably just remove it as she’s pretty aggressive like that in a good way! How long did it take for your results normally? But yes health anxiety and waiting for appointments etc is definitely the worst!

@Ck189 - It took 7 weeks to get the melanoma result, but since then when I've had moles removed they've put them through as urgent and results have been back between 2-3 weeks.

@AConvivialHost 7 weeks?! That’s a long time but good to know! Thanks for all the info : )

Mine was a little faster than that so there might be some local variation. It took about 3 weeks to see a dermatologist from the GP referral (although it was a 2 week wait referral) and about 15 days for the results after the excision. Referral to plastics was another 4 weeks (2ww again) and that was with some chasing. Wide local excision and sentinel lymph node biopsy another 4 weeks after that.

@Confusedasnormal ok good to know!
what indicated them to do a lymph node biopsy?

It depends on the staging of your melanoma. If it’s stage 2 plus you will be offered it.

Any news OP?x