Hi Casey,

It's not unusual for moles to be photographed and monitored for changes. This is usually because there are no obvious signs of malignancy but they want to check it again to see if it's changed in the interim period.

Moles can be benign (totally normal), cancerous or dysplastic (precancerous). Dysplastic moles look a bit dodgy but are fine - however, they have the potential to turn malignant in a small number of cases. So they will monitor your mole to see if it's dysplastic. If it's changed in any way by the next appointment they will remove it for biopsy. 

Only 25% of patients referred to dermatology are diagnosed with melanoma so the odds your mole is fine are high. I hope this helps,

Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient since 2009)

I'm fine, thank you. As you say, try not to obsess about your mole. Perhaps take a photo of it now and then again at the beginning of each month. That way you can monitor if there has been any change. If it substantially changes (in size, colour etc) you can always contact dermatology and ask for an earlier follow up appointment. If there is no change, you can forget about it for another month. That way you aren't checking and obsessing about it every day. Good luck, I'm sure the next few months will pass quickly x

Thank you, I appreciate your support and advice. I'll be honest I've been suffering with health anxiety, since losing a close family member, so I don't trust my judgement when monitoring, as I big trigger for me is moles, it's difficult to explain, so I don't trust my judgment. Also my phone camera isn't very good. I have however agreed for my husband to check it once a month for me, to see if any changes, which hopefully there won't be. I am very moley and lots of my back so he checks these for me too, as difficult for me to monitor those. Thank you again, take care x I am pleased to hear you are well too :)