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New moles on breast/chest- extremely worried

Chloefaye
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Hello, I was hoping to get some advice and hopefully some reassurance as I am extremely worried about 2 new moles I've developed this year- im so anxious its keeping me awake and I cant stop looking at Dr Google which is making me feel 100 times worse.

I first noticed 2 new moles next to each other on my chest/upper breast in around April. I'm not sure when they first developed, but looking back over photos they were not there during Christmas 2019. I thought they were abit random but wasnt overly concerned as they were round and brown- just looked normal! When i did my initial googling it said new moles were common at my age (24) and to monitor them for changes (colour, size, borders etc).

However, I caught sight of them in really bright light a few weeks ago and got a very good look and i've become very worried and cannot stop looking multiple times a day. They do not appear to have changed significantly, but they have gotten slightly bigger (not drastically- only noticable to me my family says they look the same). One of them (the smaller of the 2) also looks dark in the middle and lighter round the outside (still fairly symmetrical). Is this normal or defo suspicious? The other looks even in colour but has a slightly jagged border (still round shape).

Booked an appointment with my GP for Monday but i'm so scared its cancer and i've left it too long  (nearly 7 months!). 

The worry is really affecting me. I had a 2 week referral for a neck lump 2 years ago which actually turned into a diagnosis of Lupus. I dont know if any mole changes can be related to that.

Thanks,

Chloe

  • Hi Chloe,

    Welcome to Cancer Chat. I'm sorry to read of your worries about this - I know this kind of uncertainty is never easy.

    It's good to hear you have an appointment booked for today - hopefully that will be an opportunity to talk through your concerns and get some answers. Your doctor is best placed to advise on this.

    Do try to steer clear of Google if you can, and likewise with the regular checking - both of these tend to increase worry.

    Wishing you all the best and I hope you find out more soon,

    Ben
    Cancer Chat Moderator

  • Offline

    Hello,

     

    im not sure if you will see this but I am in a similar situation, what happened with you?

  • Offline in reply to dotty6721

    Hello,

    I ended up going to the doctors 3 times as I was so worried and completely obsessed with then.  The GP said they looked fine and wouldn't give me a referral even though I pushed for one. I had to just get over it in the end, and a year and a half later they're still there and still look the same. 

    What's helped me is taking a photo each month to track any changes. My tip is dont look or take photos too often as you'll see even the tiniest of differences. Now I only look now and again, I really can realise how paranoid I was. I also take a quick photo if I'm having an anxious day to compare and ease my mind. My friend saw a specialist for a dodgy mole she had and they told her it was normal for moles to change and grow, and Google isn't always correct. 

    Hope that helps! 

    Chloe

  • Offline in reply to Chloefaye

    There's actually a very good app that takes pics of moles, sends them through an algorithm that contains 1000's upon thousands of skin cancers and returns a score. Depending on the score, someone, a real doctor messages (if they have looked at the pic themselves) you to confirm it's a suspicious mole. The score is made up from the size, the shape and colour. Then compared to other proven cancerous moles. It was used a lot during the pandemic.

    Two things, it's a premium service, and can not, and should not replace an in person appointment. But yeah, it was a dermatologist that told me about it as our local hospital also adds to the data base. It has saved a lot of lives, but also caused some unnecessary worrying because it's done via  computer. But it has quite a high success rate nevertheless.

    I think it's also endorsed by melanoma UK.

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