“Melanoma” - hopefully a stupid question!

[TheLeadbetterLife]

A nasty-looking black growth appeared on the sole of my foot a couple of months ago. At first I thought it was probably a blood blister, and gave it a few weeks, but it didn’t heal.

I went to my GP and he said it was a mole and referred me to a dermatologist for removal and biopsy. My appointment is next week.

However, the mole has just clean fallen off in the bath, like a scab. Nothing but healthy-looking skin underneath.

I’ve tried googling, but getting unclear answers. Is there still a possibility this is a dodgy growth, or do melanoma not just drop off? Not sure whether to cancel with the derm.

I have a full mole scan every two years, as I live in Portugal. Nothing else has ever come up.

Could you see your GP again before the dermatologist appointment just to confirm with them?

I've had a couple of melanomas removed and they had thick stalks and there's no way they would have fallen off cleanly on their own.

I did have a pyogenic granuloma a few weeks ago which fell off by itself so maybe it was something like that?

Melanomas don't drop clean off. They're rooted (for want of a better word) in the skin. Their thickness is part of the assessment of stage/grade (not sure which term is better here).

I don't see there's much point in seeing the dermatologist, as there's no longer anything to see (or if you have saved the offending piece of skin, I suppose it could be tested, but I don't think many dermatologists would), but I would perhaps just recheck with the GP.

Thanks all! Am feeling pretty relieved as this was a proper ugly duckling “mole” - looked exactly like pics online of acral melanoma.

The derm is coming to my GP’s clinic for the day, so I’ll probably just WhatsApp the gp and see if he thinks I should cancel.

I have had a superficial spreading melanoma that fell off before being diagnosed and treated, and it had fairly normal, but slightly pigmented skin underneath. I would err on the side of caution and take the appointment.

Was the 'scab' soft or brittle or flaky?

Pic if useful. It didn't fall completely off so I needed the rest of it to be excised. The skin underneath didn't feel or look all that abnormal at the time. The whole lot plus a 1 inch surrounding area was removed

Soft I suppose, it was very slightly raised, but you could see the ridges of my skin in it. There was nothing brittle or flaky about it at all, it didn't change the whole time (nearly two months) until in the bath today, when it just peeled clean off. There's no pigmentation left at all.

Interesting, thanks. I'll contact the doc tomorrow and see what he thinks.