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Mole excision

Elisao
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Hi so to make the story short. I had a mole removed on my breast yesterday. It might have changed slightly but I was told by both gp and dermatologist that it is likely that it is nothing however when I went for my excision i was surprised at how much was removed. The mole is the size of the back of a pencil but the incision is probably about 8 cm wide and i have 9 stitches...it was about 2 cm deep to ( I asked to see the specimen cause I am weird haha) Anyway is this normal? I guess I am a bit worried in case they took extra because they have some concerns. 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

 

 

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    Hi,

    Yes, it's completely normal. They look to see how deep the mole has grown into the layers of skin and then determine the margin of tissue they need to remove around the mole. So the deeper the mole the wider the excision. It doesn't indicate, one way or the other, if they think it's malignant - they just ensure they've removed a safe margin.

    75% of patients referred to dermatology get a clean bill of health so hopefully the results will come back clear. Good luck and please let us know how you get on.

    Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient since 2009)

  • Offline in reply to AngieT

    Thank you so much for your kind reply, and very reassuring to know that the odds are pretty good. Xx

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