Mole worry

[Mummyto2123]

Before I go to my gp and worry myself silly I need someone to help me calm down. I suffer really bad health anxiety and have been doing so well until the mole on my shoulder became slightly itchy. I stupidly googled and have convinced myself it's skin cancer. I've had it for as long as i can remember but I'm not focused so much on it. Does anyone have anything similar? Does it look worrying or normal?

itchy moles can have several causes-but with any change in a mole it’s always best to get it checked by gp.Then hopefully it will put your mind at rest.

Go to your GP

I would go see your gp, I did about two moles that were worrying me and they were both fine. Yours likely is as well. It doesn’t look cancerous from what the gp told me (and mine was itchy as well).

Here are some of the signs to look for.
Apart from being itchy it doesn't look as if it meets most of the other criteria - it's an even shape and colour for instance.
Probably nothing to worry about but still worth getting checked. You might want to ask about getting it removed anyway as it is difficult to monitor moles in your back.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/melanoma-skin-cancer/symptoms/

I think I'm worrying because my clothes are touching it and it's stinging and I stupidly googled and it said something about stinging can mean melanoma. Yesterday I didn't have any bother with it but today I'm wearing a long sleeve top and it's irritating it slightly. I even looked to see if there was a hair coming out of it that was making it stingy but can't see anything. My husband said it looks fine and to stop worrying but saying that to someone with sever anxiety isn't going to help

Get it checked out for peace of mind. I was seen same day and in and out very quickly after a chat about what to look out for in the future.

I have one like that. Iooks fine to me especially if it hasn't changed size
shape or colour

To my untrained and unqualified eye, it looks okay. I went to a GP who specialises in them last year, and she showed me pictures of what’s normal and what isn’t.

However, you should still go and get it looked at.

I have health anxiety too, and I know what the fear and obsessiveness feels like

Honestly I’ve had melanoma-it does look normal but it’s itching-please stop worrying about if it is or isn’t-the only way to tell is by looking at it under a special magnifying glass that a dermatologist and possibly your GP will have.Even then they tend to remove moles just to be safe.Make appt with your GP and if it’s itching or stinging because of clothes rubbing on it,then Gp can arrange for it to be removed usually by them at your go clinic.X

It looks like a seborrheic keratosis to me which is basically a benign growths I’ve got loads of them and they do itch from time to time. However you do need to get it checked out by your GP to put your mind at rest

I was doing so well and put the itching and stinging to the back if my mind and now it's back. I'm miserable can't focus on anything. When I press it it's stings so much which I've read is a symptom of nodular melanoma. I'm going to call my gp on Monday but I'm so scared

Please stop panicking -I know exactly how you feel-but you’ll feel better once you see go.don’t procrastinate anymore and just book the appointment.don’t ever feel you are wasting a go’s time either.Then hopefully they can tell you there and then if it’s anything to worry about.Please dont Google either as the info on there is years out of date as treatment for it has completely changed the outcome etc .I wouldn’t still be here if it wasn’t for the fairly new treatments

I attended my gp this morning hoping she'd reassure me it looks fine but she said it looks a bit red and gave me cream for it to use for a week. Then i have a review next week and if it doesn't feel better she'll refer me to dermatology. I'm so scared

Well you have done the right thing so try not to worry x

Well I ended up having a major panick attack yesterday called the GP back crying on the phone asking to be referred now. If she thought it was anything to worry about do you think she would have left it for a week? I can't eat sleep and constantly crying. I've got 3 children to look after and I'm a mess

This bit is your anxiety talking -deep down you know it is-nothing will happen by leaving it a week but it might be your gp can help you more with your anxiety-I’m sorry I know what it’s like -my DD has the same.

OP I also have health anxiety and I have a lot of moles which have caused me concerns over the past 10 years. I've even had 2 removed on Drs orders! Start focusing on the facts.

Your mole has been there for years
It doesn't look anything like a classic presentation of melanoma; it's light in colour, it is uniform in shape, you don't mention any significant changes to the shape, size or colour of it, and you've had it for years. It looks like it's in a pretty exposed spot and you've been poking at it for days so I'm not surprised it looks a bit red

Stop thinking it's nodular melanoma. You'd know about it if it was! I've looked at enough pics of it to say that even I wouldn't be worried about that. Nodular melanomas are pitch black or bright red, and they grown and change very rapidly and very obviously. You wouldn't have one sitting on your shoulder for years without realising it

What is much more likely is that your mole is in a place where you catch and rub it and knocking it has made it itch. You're also now hyper aware of it, and so will notice (or imagine) every little twinge in that area. Moles can and do change with time and age. I had a pencil eraser sized one that was v dark brown rise up and go from flat to fleshy in my 20s and it was absolutely fine when chopped off and biopsied. I had another brand new mole appear a few years back which was changing, growing and always looked slightly red and irritated; this was also totally fine

Please try and dig yourself out of the anxiety hole and approach this rationally. It is very likely to be nothing at all

Oh God I've been down the health anxiety google hell hole. It's the worst thing we can do, so I've stopped doing it.
I've had lots of scares and each turned out to be nothing serious. And all of my symptoms ticked "the boxes". I was even referred on a 2 week cancer pathway and it turned out to be completely harmless.
The Doctor is eliminating the most probable possibilities. Doctor thinks it's irritation.
You've done the right thing by getting it checked out, so the process/right track has already started. Not getting it checked out wouldn't have done your health anxiety any good either, so you had to get it checked out anyway.
Calm down (oh I know easier said than done).
You're jumping to the worst possible scenario (lots of us do it) when it's highly likely to be nothing at all. You have a much higher chance of it being nothing than being something. Most referrals aren't cancer. 9/10 breast cancer lumps aren't cancer. I know yours is a mole but the same likelihood applies, as with all cancers.

After reading both lovely posts I decided to come off and try to relax which I did. I put a plaster over the mole and forgot about it. Then today aftet work I decided to press it and press it until it started stinging again. So there I go goggling and the first thing that comes up is melanoma. I can't breathe again this is torture

Please try to get help for your anxiety as this is no way to live ❤️Use whatever deep breathing exercises or whatever helps in the meantime.i find listening to audiobooks really helps me-out my headphones on and do housework

if it helps then remember I have had two different kinds of cancer/one was melanoma and I have had lots of treatment and I’m still here x

OP you have to stop trying to make symptoms show up. Your mole isn't changing colour, size or shape, it's barely even pigmented and it now isn't stinging unless you repeatedly try and make it sting. Melanoma isn't that subtle a lot of the time! You have an appointment with someone to look at it, park it until then.

With health anxiety the first thing you brain will seize on is the worst possible outcome for any random symptom and so you have to stop providing the anxiety with "symptoms" to latch on to. You can Google basically any physical change, or pain or sensation and Google will tell you that cancer is one of the causes of that change! The thing is, even if you did have melanoma, its incredibly treatable. Your brain is jumping directly from "my mole stings when I poke it" (duh) to "I'm going to die of cancer". There are a million different steps in between that symptom and that outcome that don't lead to the worst case scenario you're imaging.

Let me tell you what happened to me a few weeks ago; I've been having breast pain on and off for a few months, and I had a particularly bad day of it. After that I started hyperfocusing on my breast and was tracking 10-20 different pains in it a day, every day. I went to the breast clinic, had a scan and do you know what? I've felt maybe 5 breast pains in the last 2 weeks, and they were much less painful than before. You're hyper focusing on the mole. You're going to feel things that honestly, aren't really there, or have always been there and normally you'd filter it out. You need to chill. When is your appointment?

I don't have an appointment yet. My gp said she would do a referral but not sure when I'll get an appointment

It's likely that you'll get one within 2 weeks because they can refer you down the skin cancer pathway if you're really worried. If not and it is going to be longer you can (and I'm not saying I recommend this or that you need to do it) go to private clinics that will let you pay to see a dermatologist as a one off, basically jumping the NHS queue. It'll cost you over a hundred quid for the consultation, most likely.

I thought I'd have an appointment through already for a week or so but I've still not heard anything ot recieved a letter

The reason the GP thought it looked red is because you keep prodding it. As a previous poster said this looks more like a seborrheic keratosis. I have one on my arm and sometimes it bleeds and it looks much redder than yours. I was referred under the 2 week pathway about 2/3 years ago now. The GP said to me she thought it looked suspicious but the dermatology consultant told me it was completely harmless.