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Dark mole on breast - very scared

anyasmiles32
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Hi all,

I'm a 24F with Fitzpatrick skin type of 4. I am mixed ethnicity. Half white and half South Asian.

Last week I went for a mole check on a different mole. Whilst there, the nurse noticed another mole on my left breast that was very dark, flat and larger, and looks very different to my other moles. I don't have many other moles and I've had this mole for around 10-11 years and have not noticed any changes. It doesn't hurt, bleed, itch and isn't raised. She took a picture with a telederm (i think) and the photo was sent to a dermatologist. The dermatologist said it looks like a dysplastic naevus and they asked for an urgent referral to see them. I saw the dermatologist on Monday in person and she said that it looked like a dysplastic naevus also but that I could have it either removed for biopsy or monitor it for 3-4 months. I chose to have it removed for a biopsy and I am now really really scared for the results.

I am so scared that I am going to die. I don't know if these thoughts are stupid but I'm scared that it has spread since I have had it since I was a teenager and didn't think anything of it. Could anyone provide any reassurance, please? I am terrified. I suffer from severe anxiety and I am struggling a lot with my thoughts and controlling them. 

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    Waiting for results is always scary so don't be hard on yourself.

    People have different ways of coping but I find it easiest to keep my mind fixed on the probabilities.

    For a start this is very unlikely to be cancer - you haven't had many of the usual symptoms and your carers were happy to just monitor. There are all sorts of statistics around about dysplastic naevi and melanoma risk depending on how many you have but the risk of an individual naevus being a melanoma is very low - around 0.1%.

    Whilst malignant melanoma is the nastiest type of skin cancer it still has a pretty good cure rate - around 90%.

    So we've now brought down the possibility of you dying from this to about 0.01% - you will still obviously be nervous about getting the results but until that moment that's the concrete figure to focus on.

     

     

  • Offline in reply to Misty2

    Hi Misty2,

    Thank you very much for your response. Reading your kind words and reassurance has made me feel a bit better.

    I have been really anxious as I don't have many moles and there's only one that looks suspicious, which is freaking me out. They said it had different pigmentation (shades of brown I believe).

     

    I have had the mole for so many years and didn't realise it could be dodgy so I am just scared it has spread or something if it was bad. It's been really difficult managing my thoughts and I keep googling which isn't helping. I guess I keep trying to find an answer or find other people that have had similar moles or issues. 

  • Offline in reply to anyasmiles32

    I had two moles removed when I was much younger - at that stage I was very blase about the whole thing in an "it can't happen to me" kind of way.That was a time when you just believed doctors who told you the chances of cancer were extremely low - now, like you, I'd be worrying about the people I found on Google who'd been the exceptions to that!

    Hopefully it isn't too long until your results - until then I've found nothing that works better than keeping busy and just repeating the stats to myself.

    Best wishes.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Offline in reply to Misty2

    Hey, thank you for your message! I was definitely more anxious than I needed to be. I got my results and the mole was benign - which I am very thankful for! Though it has been fully excised so it shouldn't cause any issues in the future. Thank you again for your comments and reassurances. I really appreciate it.

     

    Just for anyone else in a similar position, my mole looked really unusual with dark and irregular pigmentation (black and brown pigmentation) and it also had a fuzzy border and it ended up being completely benign! My mole was a benign hyperpigmented compound naevus. The mole just had some usual pigmentation but it was completely fine and it was not even atypical or dysplastic!! You can never tell with these things!! But just wanted to provide some hope for anyone that may have a similar issue and the same anxieties!

  • Offline in reply to anyasmiles32

    Great news, something to celebrate!

     

     

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