Any GPs around...odd new moles...

[Mybootsareleaking]

Hi all

I'll preface this by saying I do have terrible health anxiety so apologies for the drama!

I have a lot of freckles and moles on my body that I've had my whole life - they are all light brown

Yesterday in the mirror I noticed 3 dark moles on my right arm. I dont know how long they have been there but looking at photos from this time last year they definitely weren't there then!

They are pretty much flat (I've been poking around at them so currently a little bit red and raised). They are a lot darker than the others and also one has a tiny white spot in the centre

I'm in such a panic already. I will ring my GP on Tuesday but its impossible to get an urgent appointment so will likely be 4-6 weeks until I am seen.

Does anyone have experience of moles and melanomas? Does this look like the start of skin cancer?

Nobody can diagnose you on mumsnet OP. There's nothing you can do between now and Tuesday so I'd just make a note to give your GP a call and enjoy the rest of Easter.

Not a GP or a medical person but I didn't want to just read and run.

For context, I get health anxiety too.

I am also married to a very moley man who has had a few checked over the years. Some of them have looked very 'abnormal' in terms of size, shape and pattern, and all have turned out to be nothing.

First of all, the thought process that I would apply at this point is to remember that I am a health anxiety person, which means I am not always objective around signs and symptoms in my own body. I generally misdiagnose myself, I am prone to catastrophising and panic even in situations where there appears to be 'evidence' of a problem, and I am universally wrong when I diagnose myself.

Maybe the above is helpful to you, maybe not. But I thought I'd share it.

You aren't a very moley & freckly person, not from the pics anyway.

They sort of look like Cherry angiomas. I have a few. There are literally dozens of odd skin things (benign) we can get as we get past age 30.

I would literally be exhausted trying to track my moles & skin marks like some MNers say they do. Never mind every bite that passes my lips, every gram of protein or every moment of exercise, too.

I was thinking cherry angiomas too. I’ve got loads and they’re totally harmless.

My mum recently went to the gp about a mole that had changed shape and gone lumpy. The gp took a picture of it with a special ‘mole camera’ (don’t think that’s the technical name 😂) and sent it to the dermatology dept of our local hospital. They reviewed it and said it’s completely benign change. So even things which look suspicious can be very harmless.

Get them checked out for peace of mind but I don’t think it’s unusual to get new moles/ blemishes.

I have a really dark mole on the back of my leg that I first noticed last summer. It's not grown or anything and for all I know it could have been there my entire life. It's 3mm big so tiny.. but it's very dark which makes me worry a bit. I'm going to get it checked for peace of mind but do feel like a bit of a nuisance to my GP. In the past year I have had such health anxiety I have been there have all sorts of things checked out. Lump in breast. Several other moles. Convinced myself I was overdue a smear too but turns out I actually had one 2 years ago and just couldn't remember it. 😳

Not sure where the health anxiety has come from. Never really suffered with it before.

Anyway. I'm just writing to let you know you're not the only one and I can completely sympathise with how you're feeling.

Get it checked out.

Oops posted too soon sorry!

Get it checked out but don't stress too much. People do get new moles.