DD teen suspicious spot on head what can I expect please

[ParmaVioletts]

DH said not to call the surgery at 8.3o as it won't be seen as an emergency?

I just noticed it tonight on her head, hair a bit greasy and sperate and noticed small brown crusty looking thing with red in the middle

Does anyone know what we can expect?

Well yes which is why I’m surprised you haven’t just asked about it? That might offer some explanation or reason. It might also make it easier to try and pinpoint causes as she can tell you whether it’s itchy or painful. It just seems a bit unusual to notice it then discuss and plan secretly about doing something, I’d imagine most 17/18 year olds book and manage their own doctors appointments, I certainly did at that age. (Obviously if there’s SEN or disabilities then I take my comment back)

Just to add that our GP offers an online form where you can send photos so that’s what I did first and they replied the same day to tell me to make an appointment to see the GP to have it check with the dermascope I think it was called. Our GP surgery is excellent though. It baffles me that so many posters have such rubbish ones. We can usually get seen the same day.

My husband had a suspicious crusty area on his forehead. He saw the practice nurse. She took a picture of it using a magnifier on her phone. The photo was sent to a specialist the same day. My husband received a written report 2 weeks later. The crusty thing was not cancer at that point but it was a type of crusty thing that could easily become cancerous if not treated. He had to apply cream twice a day to the spot and the surrounding area. It burned the skin off in a great big scab. He wears a hat in the sun now as that area is more sensitive to the sun now. That's it.Its completely gone.

His was called Actinic ketosis. Does your daughters head look like the images on google

You are not going to become an expert and lead anything. I usually roll my eyes in threads like these at the people who suggest seeing a GP for anxiety, but I genuinely think you need to.

Does your surgery have an eConsult option so you can submit a photo? If so, do that. Otherwise, ring and book in for an appointment. It doesn’t on the face of it warrant an urgent one.

It’s actually better that they see how it may have changed when you see them, so take a photo now so you can have a record of any change. It may very well be a scab caused by something that will fall off before then anyway. If it’s something worrying, you will be seen by dermatology very quickly.

I have melanoma (also started on the scalp) and I was seen in hospital in less than a week and surgery 3 weeks after that. My care has been absolutely excellent. I truly cannot fault the NHS for how quickly and thoroughly they have looked after me (I’m now halfway through a year of treatment and cancer free).

But please don’t panic in the meantime. There are lots of much more likely explanations in a 17 year old than cancer.