Hello,
My background is: 29, male, mixed-race (skin type 3/4 Fitzpatrick) kind of brown skin, no FH of skin cancer, don't use tanning booths, dont spend huge amounts of time outside, but did live in Oz for six months a few years back. I have a few moles over my body and all of them are a deeply pigmented colour, possibly something to do with my ethnicity.
A few weeks ago, I made an appointment with my GP to look at a small back mole on my back which is very slightly raised. It had become slightly itchy and I just 'felt' something wasn't right with it. The GP didn't think it looked like melanoma but referred me to a dermatologist and I was seen in two weeks.
I went to the dermatology appointment two weeks ago and the clincian inspected it. I was very shocked that she told me that it looks atypical and that it had been bleeding as there was a small scab over it. She did seem to be quite reassuring though and said that I would be low risk for melanoma based on my background, but that the mole needs to be removed. She also did a general examination of my body and saw a 7mm flat mole on my thigh and her words were "this is going to worry me" - again, it is a deeply pigmented mole but with irregular borders. Her view was that because of how pigmented the moles are, they need to be excised for biopsy. As far as I'm aware, I've always had this mole but I haven't really been monitoring it for changes. I just assumed I'd had it since childhood.
I then had the appointment today for the double excision. Before the procedure, the doctor also examined the moles. He said that the one on my thigh was striking and really "pops out" because of the deep pigmentation and 7mm size. He said that he thinks the moles are unlikely to be cancerous mainly because of my age but that lots of young people have atypical moles and that excision is a preventative step. I pressed him further and said if it is cancer, what stage is it and he said that it would probably be early stage. He also said that in 25 years, he has only seen 4/5 people in my age bracket with melanomas.
We then went upstairs to the procedure room and he did a closer examination of the moles. It was at this point I sensed a change in atmosphere because he inspected the one on my thigh and said emphatically "Okay, this one must be removed, in fact I am not letting you leave without removing it and would be concerned if you went away and came back in three months about it". He then went on and removed both of them.
These words made me feel sick. As far as I know, the mole on my thigh I have had all my life and I hadn't seen any changes. Now I am panicking that it is something very serious that has spread across my body into different parts and it's been caught too late. After the procedure was over, I asked the surgeon what he meant by these comments and said are you alarmed by the moles now you've seen them under the light and he said "the one on your leg yes, but the important thing is they've been removed now".
I feel overwhelmed with stress and anxiety by all of this. I didn't even go to the GP about the mole on my thigh, I assumed it was just a birthmark I'd always had. The advice of the doctor feels inconsistent - as in don't worry, it's unlikely, but emphatically these must be removed. Some questions:
1. What do I read into all this? That under the light, he actually thinks it's a melanoma? Why was he so firm that they need to be removed?
2. Would the doctors say that they think something is likely to be a melanoma if they thought it was? It feels like they weren't saying it is likely to be but at the same time ordering that they be removed so I'm very confused.
3. Is it likely that you would have other symptoms if you had advanced stage melanoma? I am making peace with the fact that I think I have a form of melanoma especially in the leg but wondered if it was advanced there would be other symptomology.
He said that I need to go back in 2 weeks to have the stitches removed but that biopsy results would be ready in a week so they'd usually call if something was wrong. This freaked me out completely. I can't stop thinking about moles, about the fact I may have stupidly let something insidious grow on my skin for years of my life and now it's too late. I'm almost making peace with the possibility that I may be told I have x years to live.
Sorry for the long rant, I'm just sore and upset and really really down xx
