Hello, and thank you for contacting us. 

I'm sorry that this has caused so much distress but I can assure you that this is fairly standard practice for a mole to need to be looked at further by dermatology as it is difficult to make full assessments via photographs. It is also not unusual for them to want to remove moles even if there isn't anything serious.

It is understandable that when you have been through what you have with your friend that this would cause you anxiety but it would be very rare for someone of your sons age to have a skin cancer.

This appointment is just a way of the health professionals fully assessing your son, so please try to not panic further and reassure your son that this is just a thorough skin check up to follow on from his previous GP appointment.

Take care and if you want to chat it through further you may find it helpful to talk things with one of the nurses on our helpline.  The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

Sarah.

Thank you so much for your reassuring reply. I know I am panicking because of my friend's experience and my son was close to her too. Your reply has definitely helped me to feel more rational! Thank you 

Hi,

From the perspective of a patient with melanoma for many years - please try not to worry too much about this referral. As Sarah says, it's standard practice in this situation but it doesn't definitely mean it's cancerous. 75% of patients referred to dermatology get clear results after examination or biopsy. 20% will be diagnosed with a dysplastic mole (precancerous) whilst only 5% are melanoma, so the odds your son's mole is fine are very high. In my family, between my brother, niece, nephew and myself we have had a total of 11 suspicious looking moles removed - only one (mine) was melanoma whilst two moles (my brother & my niece) were dysplastic - all the rest were benign so it mirrors the statistics.

I'm so sorry you lost your best friend to melanoma but please know that every melanoma patient's experience is different - no two patient's experience are the same. It all depends on how long it was before they were diagnosed (found early stage or already late stage), what treatment they received and when they were diagnosed (a few years ago or very recently). In the last 3 years adjuvant drug treatment has been available for all newly diagnosed Stage 3 patients whilst drug treatment has been available for all Stage 4 patients for the last 6 years and these treatments are showing great results. This means that many more late stage patients are surviving for many more years than they once did. Add to that the fact that early stage patients have between 90 & 97% chance of being successfully treated and no re-currence or spread, and the future for patients is much better than it was just 3 years ago.

Good luck to your son and please let us know how he gets on,

Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient since 2009)

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and for your reassurance. My experience of melanoma is limited to what happened to my friend - you are proof of a very different story, thank you for your insight and knowledge.