Hi Rebecca,

I hope your appointment goes well today & your GP can calm your fears. If they decide you need to be referred to Dermatology, it's not because they definitely think your mole is cancer - if they are unsure as to whether it's suspicious or not their guidelines say they must refer the patient - this means the expert can take a look! They may refer you to the Teledermy department where they take photos of your mole & send them through to the dermatologist to look at - Teledermy is like a Triage System. The photos are done with a special camera that shows the layers of skin below the mole & they can see if it looks normal or if it needs further investigation. You will then hear from them either to say it looks fine or with an appointment to see the consultant in person.

If they want to see you, it's so they can examine the mole with a dermascope - a hand held microscope. If they think it looks suspicious, they will arrange for you to go back to have the mole removed for a biopsy. This is done under a local anaesthetic as a day patient. There is then a few weeks wait for the results. 

Sometimes the fear of possible cancer & the wait for appointments & results is worse than the treatment of the cancer. If you are a naturally anxious person it may be an idea to speak to your GP who can help. My advice is to try & take one step at a time & don't let your mind jump forward to a worse case scenario because the chances of that happening are very small & you will make yourself ill with the stress. 75% of patients that are seen at Dermatology get a clean bill of health - their moles are either benign or dysplastic (aka atypical or precancerous), these moles look like ugly ducklings but haven't turned cancerous yet. The majority of the 25% that are diagnosed with melanoma are early stage which means it's been found & removed before it's grown deeper. Surgery alone treats these melanoma successfully so the chance of it having grown deep, spread & you'll die is very unlikely. There are lots of different treatments now if the melanoma has spread and these are showing great results.

So, it's natural to be worried but try not to let it take over. Start by seeing what the GP says today & then take the next step from there. Good luck & please let us know how you've got on,

Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient since 2009)