Hi,

I know how distressing it is when waiting for an appointment, either for surgery or results. Pre-Covid, if a GP referred a patient to dermatology under the 2 week referral route they would get an appointment around the 2 week mark. Sadly Covid has meant a slightly longer wait for the first appointment and then about another 3 weeks for a biopsy excision. If you have managed to get an excision privately a lot sooner then that's great. 

The thing to be aware of is, if the results come back positive for melanoma, you would then need further surgery - a wide local excision & possibly a sentinel lymph node biopsy (if the melanoma is more than .8mm depth). If this happens you may want to change back to the NHS unless you have private health insurance. It would get done quicker privately though if you can afford it. Waiting times between results and a WLE are currently about 6 weeks (normally 3) under the NHS.

I know how fragile your husband must feel, especially after losing his sister recently to cancer. I'm sure he is trying to be helpful but the information about melanoma found on Google (unless on this CRUK website, Macmillan or similar UK medical websites) are out of date and don't take into account the vast leaps in research that has, and still is, taking place into melanoma. New treatments have been used in the last few years that are having very promising results and melanoma is not the immediate death sentence that it was 5 years ago. Melanoma can spread quickly but this happens in only a small number of patients & is sometimes due to patients not seeing a GP sooner. The two weeks your husband has read about is the NICE guideline to GP's regarding referring a patient under the 2 week rule as I believe your GP has. In your case, you have sought your GP's advice very quickly and the short wait (even though it's longer than the pre-Covid norm) will have little or no effect to the possibility of spread. Melanoma only has the ability to spread if it grows very deeply - if caught quickly & removed it is usually early stage & has a 0 - 10% chance of spreading dependant on the depth. So please do not worry that the 6 week waiting time will mean it's spreading - you may not have melanoma (benign), it may be dysplastic (pre-cancerous) or it may be early stage - there are many options to your diagnosis. The odds of not getting a melanoma diagnosis are very good.

To give some perspective - I've lived 25 years with melanoma and I'm still fit, healthy & currently with no evidence of the disease (the melanoma equivalent of remission). I've had 7 mole/lesion removals over those years and all but 1 were benign. Hopefully your biopsy results will be clear but if not, it's not a fait accompli. Good luck and please let us know how you get on,

Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient)

Hi Angie,

Thanks so much for your reply, that's made me feel a lot better. And my husband, I read it out to him. I will indeed come back when I've had the biopsy. I hope things continue well for you.

Sheena

Hi 

I am in a similar situation. I have a suspected melanoma on my leg and have been put on the so called urgent waiting list for an excisional biopsy under the NHS. This was just over two weeks ago and when I called the hospital yesterday they could give me no idea of when an appointment would come through. I just want it removed, the longer it is there the higher the risk of it spreading. It's ridiculous and shocking having to wait, regardless of the pandemic. Good luck with your procedure on April 21st, I'm praying daily for an appointment.