Referred to cancer clinic

[fanontonight]

Hi, not sure if this is in the correct place. I would like to hear other people's experiences .... whether it be a good or bad outcome as I am aware it could be either.
To cut a long story short my 9 year old son has a mole and on Friday I took him to see the gp as it had changed and I wasn't happy with how it looked the gp first asked me to email photos in then asked me to take him in as he wasn't happy either.
The gp has referred him to the cancer clinic due to the irregularity of the mole and the fact he has a few more (that look fine) on his body.

Does anyone have an experience of this happening? Do the clinic have a better look? How long does referral take? I'm concerned it may take longer due to covid.
As you can imagine I am out of my mind with worry!!!

Sorry I have no idea, just wanted to say I’m sorry you’re having to go through the worry and the waiting. I hope it’s all a false alarm and he gets seen really quickly

Well, first of all there's a good chance its nothing. Sometimes moles get scratched or are just atypical and they are almost always harmless. It's great you got it checked out, and the gp is most likely just being cautious.

If it does turn out to be bad, skin cancer when caught early is the easiest cancer to operate on, and you stand a extremely high chance of recovery.

Try not to worry too much.

Are you sure the GP said the cancer clinic and not dermatology? My11 year old ds has a mole on his arm and last summer it seemed to change and become darker and more raised/irregular. The GP referred him to dermatology and they had a look with their magnifier and were happy that it was fine. Said they can sometimes become a bit inflamed then settle down. Chances are it will be fine but good to get checked and hopefully won’t be too long to wait.

@candle18

Are you sure the GP said the cancer clinic and not dermatology? My11 year old ds has a mole on his arm and last summer it seemed to change and become darker and more raised/irregular. The GP referred him to dermatology and they had a look with their magnifier and were happy that it was fine. Said they can sometimes become a bit inflamed then settle down. Chances are it will be fine but good to get checked and hopefully won’t be too long to wait.

Yes he definitely said cancer clinic, Dermatologist wasn't mentioned at all.

@Suzie81

Well, first of all there's a good chance its nothing. Sometimes moles get scratched or are just atypical and they are almost always harmless. It's great you got it checked out, and the gp is most likely just being cautious.

If it does turn out to be bad, skin cancer when caught early is the easiest cancer to operate on, and you stand a extremely high chance of recovery.

Try not to worry too much.

Yes I'm hoping it's just how it is or he's caught it and scratched it 🤞🏼🤞🏼 Thankyou got your reply

@BornOnThe4thJuly

Sorry I have no idea, just wanted to say I’m sorry you’re having to go through the worry and the waiting. I hope it’s all a false alarm and he gets seen really quickly

Thankyou xx

Very odd that the GP called it cancer clinic. Ultimately it will be a dermatologist that checks your son. I have had 5 moles removed from the ages of 8 to 26. They have all been removed as a precaution and once tested have not had any cancer found. Try not to panic, and don't focus too much on cancer clinic.

Hi. I recently had a similar experience on myself. I had a dodgy mole and although it is a dermatologist you will see it’s definitely called the cancer clinic. I know I’m not a child, but imagine it’ll all be the same. A consultant looked at my mole with a magnifier etc and I had mine medically photographed to compare in a few months. The other option is to remove etc.