Skin cancer

[3isthemagicnumberrr]

Looking for stories/ reassurance please. DM has had a mark on her face for 18m. Not a mole but looks like a graze/ burn. Finally saw the GP last week and has been referred on 2ww and is seeing specialist next week.

I know it’s not normal and there is a high chance it will be skin cancer. But now panicking it’s been so long it could have spread.

Anyone been through something similar?

FIL has had (what I think) is a squalous CC for about 4-5 yrs. Or maybe actinic keratosis. It's a horrible huge scabby area, covers an area almost tea saucer size. FIL asked GP about it when it was just a tiny scrape, GP said probably harmless, come back if it changes. FIL never went back.

No evidence that Bastard horrible thing has mestastised yet. They have a conversion rate of about 7% per year for mestatising. FIL (nearly 90yo) is an adult who gets to make bad decisions.

Apparently, 90% of people referred on cancer pathway don't have anything cancerous or pre-cancerous. Of the 10%, many are only pre-cancerous (like SCC) and can be treated with excellent prospects. Try not to worry.

Both my parents had skin cancers removed from their faces. Your mum's sounds similar to what my dad had. He had it for at least a year before he sought advice. It was a basal cell carcinoma and was removed very quickly and easily. These tend to be slow growing and rarely spread. My mum had several squamous cell carcinomas removed, but they were raised and one of them grew alarmingly fast, so they don't sound like the one your mum has. They are more serious than basal cell carcinomas, but even then, they were all removed with a small margin of skin and there was no spread. One of them was removed with a freeze spray while I sat beside her in the dermatologist's office. It was only beginning to emerge and the hospital was keeping an eye on her skin at this point. She didn't develop any more after that.

These are the two most common facial skin cancers and although you'd prefer not to have skin cancer at all, they are the least likely to cause serious problems. I don't know much about melanoma beyond the fact that one of my mum's friends had one removed from her leg and it did not need any further treatment.

I hope all goes well

My mum had a patch on her cheek tested and it was melanoma. It was removed by a plastic surgeon and no further treatment was needed.

She's also had several other bits and bobs removed, some were the less serious cancers (mostly basal cell I think) and some benign, none of those caused an issue at all.

Thanks everyone. Let’s see what happens next week. I’m going to try not to catastrophise and jump to the worst conclusions…

I am going tomorrow to have a probable BCC removed and another looked at, I was put on two week pathway at first but consultant didn't seem too alarmed about it and I came off the urgent pathway, it could be a SCC but more likely BCC. Mine are on my leg and I'm over 60 so not too worried about scarring as I don't show my legs much so I guess it's easier to remove than on the face where you wouldn't want a scar. Try not to worry as it's probably a BCC which is quite common and easily removed and then that's it. My wait was 3 months after the initial video appointment for the outpatient surgery