I read this entire forum to see how you got on and I'm glad all was well for you. Also really nice to see so much support on here for you as well. I had a mole removed when I was around 14 but I never asked or knew if it was anything to worry about at the time. Sadly, my mum passed away in January from cancer that started in her lung, otherwise I'm sure she would have known or been able to help me. Which is part of the reason I have ended up in here in the first instant, I know longer have my mum to turn to and ask what to do, or to book my doctors appointments anymore! She wrote me a letter just before she died and in the letter she had told me never to put off going to the doctors if I was ever worried about anything and so I booked a doctors appointment to have a mole checked that had grown and changed significantly over the past 2 years. I got a referral to the dermatologist and it was a few weeks. Today I attended said referral and when I sat down he said my doctor had reffered me there for skin cancer... that did bother me slightly although I guess this could just be the terminology for having bad moles checked? He checked and photographed this particular mole and spoke about melanoma, stages of cancer, lymph nodes, treatments etc. Is this a regular thing to talk about having only visually inspected the mole? He told me that he is going to remove the mole and it will be tested and will have to go from there but he wanted to get me in ASAP for the removal, this coming Tuesday! Is it normally that soon after or is it literally just based on how busy they happen to be? My last annoyance is that because of what I went though with my mum, I learnt to listen to everything, I wanted/needed to know exactly what everything meant, exactly where her progress was and help a lot with the palliative care at home until I got too much to handle and I organised getting her into a hospice. Although a difficult situation I'd already accepted most things before they'd happened or as they were happening because I'd researched everything so much that I anticipated them.... the annoyance for me here is that after reading this forum it seems there is a varied wait for the biopsy results and I happen to be a tad impatient do they give you any information at all on the day of the biopsy, can they tell anything at all at this point or it is just a waiting game for me for a while? Many thanks

Eddy

Hi Eddy,

I'm sorry to hear about your mum - dealing with the illness and death of a loved one can sometimes change your perception and how you deal with your own health and that's a good thing in your case. It's good to try and find out everything you can about what you are going through whilst others prefer not to know - everyone is different.

So to answer your questions - sadly melanoma is the most unpredictable of all the cancers and it doesn't follow a known pattern like many do. That's the first hurdle as every patient's experience is different from the next! You asked if the dermatologist would normally speak in detail about melanoma whilst checking a patient's mole? All I can say is that there appear to be 3 types of dermatologists - those that share as much information as yours did as they prefer to lay out what could happen (not that it always does) should the biopsy show it's melanoma. The second are those that sit on the fence and say what they think it might be 'It looks worrying' or 'It looks OK but to be on the safe side we will remove it' and the third type are those that say very little and give nothing away. I think some dermatologists (like mine) have so much experience that they can 90% tell if a mole looks malignant whilst some either don't have that experience or prefer not to voice their opinion and leave it up to the biopsy results. Obviously, at the end of the day some patients prefer to be prepared for what 'may' happen whilst others don't want to know until it happens. The thing to remember is that the dermatologist can still be wrong - I've had 7 dodgy moles/lesions removed over the years and only the first was melanoma - the following 6 were moles checked by the junior dermatologist or my plastic surgeon!! Only a biopsy can give a 100% diagnosis.

How quickly a mole is removed all depends on the time and staff/facilities available. I've known some patients have it done there & then by the dermatologist (not common) because the mole hasn't been very big & they have had the time & facilities. In the main the patient is called back - pre-Covid it was within 10 to 21 days but at the moment it can now be between 2 & 6 weeks (very worrying). Patients do sometimes get called in within a few days - it all depends on cancellations on the surgical list which may have happened in your case.

Lastly, I'm afraid they can't tell a patient the results straight away as the tissue has to go to histology. Again, some surgeons, like some dermatologists, share a little information as to what it looks like but again it's only their view with the naked eye and the biopsy result may be different. However, most surgeons give nothing away and you have to wait until the results come through which vary according to hospital authorities - the average appears now to be 5 weeks I'm afraid. So sadly it is a waiting game which is the hardest part of this situation. Keep busy & distracted is the only thing we can do. Good luck and please let us know how you get on,

Angie 

Hi Eddy,

I'm sorry to hear about your mum - dealing with the illness and death of a loved one can sometimes change your perception and how you deal with your own health and that's a good thing in your case. It's good to try and find out everything you can about what you are going through whilst others prefer not to know - everyone is different.

So to answer your questions - sadly melanoma is the most unpredictable of all the cancers and it doesn't follow a known pattern like many do. That's the first hurdle as every patient's experience is different from the next! You asked if the dermatologist would normally speak in detail about melanoma whilst checking a patient's mole? All I can say is that there appear to be 3 types of dermatologists - those that share as much information as yours did as they prefer to lay out what could happen (not that it always does) should the biopsy show it's melanoma. The second are those that sit on the fence and say what they think it might be 'It looks worrying' or 'It looks OK but to be on the safe side we will remove it' and the third type are those that say very little and give nothing away. I think some dermatologists (like mine) have so much experience that they can 90% tell if a mole looks malignant whilst some either don't have that experience or prefer not to voice their opinion and leave it up to the biopsy results. Obviously, at the end of the day some patients prefer to be prepared for what 'may' happen whilst others don't want to know until it happens. The thing to remember is that the dermatologist can still be wrong - I've had 7 dodgy moles/lesions removed over the years and only the first was melanoma - the following 6 were moles checked by the junior dermatologist or my plastic surgeon!! Only a biopsy can give a 100% diagnosis.

How quickly a mole is removed all depends on the time and staff/facilities available. I've known some patients have it done there & then by the dermatologist (not common) because the mole hasn't been very big & they have had the time & facilities. In the main the patient is called back - pre-Covid it was within 10 to 21 days but at the moment it can now be between 2 & 6 weeks (very worrying). Patients do sometimes get called in within a few days - it all depends on cancellations on the surgical list which may have happened in your case.

Lastly, I'm afraid they can't tell a patient the results straight away as the tissue has to go to histology. Again, some surgeons, like some dermatologists, share a little information as to what it looks like but again it's only their view with the naked eye and the biopsy result may be different. However, most surgeons give nothing away and you have to wait until the results come through which vary according to hospital authorities - the average appears now to be 5 weeks I'm afraid. So sadly it is a waiting game which is the hardest part of this situation. Keep busy & distracted is the only thing we can do. Good luck and please let us know how you get on,

Angie 

Thank you for taking to the time to write that Angie! I will do for sure.

That is such an informative message and really comforting to read :)