Hello scout27 and thanks for posting,

I am sorry to learn about your mum and can understand you wanting to support her.

I don't think the specialist would say this was a melanoma unless they were very sure, but a biopsy would usually be taken to confirm their impression.  

I wonder if there is a reason for not taking a biopsy?  In an outpatient clinic they would usually do what is called an excisional biopsy to take away all of a suspected melanoma in one go under local anaesthetic. This would be if the suspected melanoma was in an accessible place, but with something on the nostril that might be tricky. As the doctors have said they want to do a skin graft this might be why a biopsy hasn't been done yet;  a skin graft makes it a less straightforward procedure and I think they tend to be done under a general anaesthetic.

Unfortunately I am not sure what the plan is, so I can't really say what the likely recovery time will be, I think your mum will need to get this information from the hospital team treating her. 

I am also unsure what they will do to check for the melanoma spreading. I think this will probably depend on the situation and how likely it is that the melanoma might have spread already which is linked to how deep it is, so again, your mum will need to ask her hospital doctors what they think is best in her circumstances. I don't think a melanoma would be any more likely to spread because someone has had other skin cancers before. 

I hope this helps a bit. Please feel free to give us a call if you want to talk anything over. Our number is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and we are here 9-5 weekdays. 

Best wishes,

Julia