Hi,

Please don't get yourself into a panic over this. Mole apps are great but they are not 100% positive so there is still every chance that your mole is fine. If it hasn't changed in 18 months & it's only worrying feature is it's colour, it may possibly be a dysplastic (atypical) mole - these are benign but have the ability to turn cancerous in the future, in which case they are generally removed for biopsy.

As regards leaving it for 18 months, there is still a good chance that, should it be diagnosed as melanoma, it will still be early stge & very treatable. I left mine for a year before getting it checked - it ws early stage & I'm still here 24 years later!

75% of patients who see dermatologists are given a clean bill of health so the odds are on your side for it to be fine. Good luck & please let us know how you get on,

Angie (melanoma patient)

Hello, you've done the right thing making an appointment to have it looked at, just try not to worry until you're certain what it is, easy to say but googling possible outcomes will make you feel even more anxious.   Myself,  I have a reddish brown mark on my shin, about the size of a 5p which has been there for over a year.  I eventually got it looked at, biopsy etc..   It is cancerous, but low risk and I was given a cream to apply. I've been using this for a few weeks now and it's certainly getting smaller and lighter in colour.    

Hopefully all will be good next week.   Take care. Colin. 

Hi all, just come back from my appointment and thought I’d update seeing as you were all so kind to offer me reassurance. The dermatologist said that the mole was a Spitz nevus. After some discussion I decided that I’d like it excised so that I don’t have to worry about it anymore, and so I’m having that done a week today. In case anyone like me ends up scrolling endlessly through forums while they’re anxiously waiting, I’ll let you all know how it goes next week. The derm said it should only take 20 minutes! 

Thanks all x

Natalie, that's really great news. 

Take care. Col.

Thank you so much, Col. You take care too x 

That's brilliant news x

Thank you Angie, I am very relieved and glad that I don’t have to wait very long for it to be dealt with. Thank you so much for your reassurance and spending the time to respond last week. X

Hi all, just another update after my little op this morning. It literally took 5 minutes. The doc injected local anaesthetic into the area of my leg surrounding the mole (that was probably the worst bit, but it didn’t hurt too much at all) and then he removed it and stitched my skin back up. He used dissolvable stitches and then put on a waterproof dressing that I have to keep on for 7 days. The mole is being sent off for biopsy just to be on the safe side but the doc says I shouldn’t need to be worried. In any case he said he’d write to me with the results in the next two weeks. So fingers crossed I’m all done now. If you hear from me again it’ll be because I’ve had bad news but I’m feeling confident all is OK. Thank you again everyone. 

X

Hi all 

hoping someone can reply to me on this! Beyond scared with worry. So I've had a lot of health anxiety recently, I found a lymph node in my neck about 9 weeks ago now. I've had tests on it and going for a biopsy all seemed fine wasn't even enlarged normal size. Anyways, 2 days ago I found a mole, it's two toned irregular shape, I've had this mole all my life. I've looked back on old pictures it's located on my stomach bottom of it, from old pictures it looks exactly the same? But I can't really be 100% sure it's in such an awkward place I don't have photos of my lower stomach! All my other moles have no changed some are irregular I have about 5 in total so not many moles at all! I've booked in immediately for an appointment with a dermatologist which is this Monday so very quickly. I've convinced myself now maybe the lymph node in my neck is to do with the cancer of the mole spreading? I'm in bits. I'm crying and believing I'm going to die really soon. I'm only 22 and training to be a nurse and I honestly feel so helpless. Would love if someone could please get back to me on this post