Three weeks ago I had a mole removed after an urgent referral from the dermatologist. I got the results in person yesterday by the Dermatologist Consultant who said my mole is an ‘atypical spitz nevus’. I’m aware of what a Spitz Nevus is, a type of benign mole, so I was immediately relieved and was about to get up and go home! He went on to say it’s not the same as a spitz nevus as it’s atypical, and it’s hard for him to explain what it is but essentially he can’t say it’s non-cancerous and he can’t say it’s cancerous (?!). He then said he has referred me to be treated under Christie’s Cancer Hospital and they will review my mole again and I will see a plastic surgeon there who will do a wide local excision and have an MDT meeting to discuss my mole. I didn’t have my original excision at Christie’s, I had it at a normal local hospital. I’ve tried to research what an atypical spitz nevus is and there isn’t much at all about them online. The only things really are scientific research papers and from what I can figure out from them (I’m not a scientist!) is that they don’t really know exactly what they are (they have normal spitz nevus features and malignant melanoma features), it’s very rare, they can spread to lymph nodes (I don’t know what exactly spreads to the lymph nodes if they are not melanoma?!), experts argue that they are melanoma and some experts argue they’re not, they don’t really know exactly what causes it, they look so similar to melanoma under a microscope that some pathologists would diagnose it as melanoma, and basically just that there’s a lot of controversy and different opinions around them.
Because of this I can’t gage the seriousness of it and it’s hard for me to explain it to other people and work. I thought getting my results would give me some relief as I would have a straight answer regardless of what it was. I feel very conflicted and more confused! Has anyone had an atypical spitz nevus before by any chance, if not, is there any thoughts on this?