anyone had a large ugly dermatofibroma?

[wickerball]

I have stupidly put off going to the gp about a lump on my leg for over a year, when I finally did she said she thinks it's a dermatofibroma but that she would refer me as it was on the large side. She asked me to take some photos to send in. As I left she said 'thet won't see you unless they think it's something else.'
Well, they do want to see me so now I am completely panicking. I have had it for so long that if it is anything serious I have very much not caught it early.

Has anyone had large Dermatofibromas? I stupidly picked mine until it bled which isn't helping my anxiety.

Hiya do you have any update on this or any pictures? Im kinda going through the same thing. I had a lump/bump appear on my leg last july 2023 and never decided to get it checked out. well i have health anxiety and now been worrying about it and got a GP appointment tomorrow. Im also scared that i have left it too long and worrying incase its something sinister. 😪 I wouldnt say mine is tiny/small either.

Yes - I have one. Dermatologist took one look any diagnosed it there and then after urgent GP referral.

I was told the key with a dermatofibroma is if you squeeze it, it dimples in the middle like it’s tethered down.

I’m waiting on biopsy results. Should be any day. I saw the dermatologist who was absolutely awful, barely looked at it with a dermascope before saying ‘it doesn’t look suspicious - for now’ and asked me to come back in 4 months. When I told her I’d already left it this long she said it looked ‘a little odd’, I had to ask her what she meant by that and she said ‘the crusting’ (which, I think, is just the slight scab from where I’ve picked it so much but fair enough!).

i was then called for a biopsy the next day where it turned out I’d been referred for the wrong procedure. The plastic surgeon was great and said he didn’t think it was anything to worry about and that he’d take a punch biopsy and mark it as urgent to put my mind at rest. The dermatologist had added ‘Amelanotic melanoma’ as a possible diagnosis which is what I was terrified of, but I’m really hoping it is just a benign dermatofibroma and I can put this behind me.

I will never leave something like this unchecked ever again. I feel very stupid for not showing it to a doctor when I initially noticed it. It’s made waiting for these results pretty unbearable as if is anything nasty I have missed the chance to catch it and treat it early and I dread to think what will happen. But trying to stay positive for now.

will update and add pictures once I know what’s going on.

@ZippyZappyZoo i have a few that are classic in that presentation (from years ago and a new recent one too) but the one I’ve had biopsied is on the bony part of my shin and is large so it’s hard to see if it really dimples down.

@Kayleeangel123 how big is yours?

I was initially misdiagnosed by gp with a dermatofibroma which did turn out to be melanoma. But even if this does happen to you there may very well not be as much to worry about as you fear. Treatment for melanoma is very much dependent on size and staging so just an excision might be the end of it.
If (and it is a big if) you do need further investigation and treatment there are options available now for melanoma which did not exist a decade ago.
I have melanoma and have had a variety of treatments so if you end up in that position feel free to message me if you want.

@Blackcats7 thank you, that’s really kind. I’ll be in touch

In case anyone is searching for this in a panic like me in future- mine fortunately turned out to be a dermatofibroma. In future I’ll be getting things checked promptly and not burying my head in the sand and then panicking.