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My partner is waiting for result of subungual melanoma

loulou_14_79
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My partner is nearly at 5yrs remission for breast cancer and last week she went to the GP as we noticed 2 toe nails with what appeared to be bruised we're getting worse. The GP instantly thought that this could be subungual melanoma. These bruise type marks on her nails have been there since and during her breast cancer treatment and we were told it was a side effect of the chemo and radio therapy. I am beside myself with worry as reading information everything says early diagnosis gives better survail rates as with everything if this is the worst then she's had this for 5 years and is just finding herself again after a very bad depression, has anyone heard of this type of cancer or know someone is has had it 

thanks in advanced 

lynds x

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    Hi Lynds,

    I'm sorry that you are both going through this awful worry, especially with your partner's previous breast cancer diagnosis.

    I'm assuming your GP has referred your partner to a dermatologist under the 2 week rule? Hopefully the appointment will come through quickly.

    I can understand your GP being concerned but hopefully he is wrong. Subungual melanoma isn't common and it usually only affects one nail so it would be very, very rare if both nails are affected. SM accounts for only 4 or 5% of melanoma cases and of these, 1% are white Caucasian patients and the remainder are darker skinned patients (black, Asian & Oriental). So this also means the odds of it being SM are very small. 

    If your partner has had this for 5 years and SM is quite an aggressive cancer, I'm sure that she would have started presenting other symptoms, as it would have probably spread to either an organ, the brain or the bones. 

    So, all in all, the odds are in her favour that the bruising is due to the cancer treatment or another, easily treatable, problem. Good luck at the appointment and please let us know how you both get on,

    Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient)

  • Offline in reply to AngieT

    Hi Angie 

    thank you so much for reply, we were told it would be 3-4 weeks for the biopsy to be returned no referral has been made as yet.

    your words are very comforting to hear and have eased some of my anxiety which will helps, I will also pass this on to my partner in the morning. 
    I will of course let you know what happens

    Thanks again it means so much x

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