Hi Pink68,

I'm sorry you have been waiting so long for your results and that you think you may have missed their phone calls. 

I hope you have managed to get in touch with the consultant's secretary this morning. I would think that, if the calls were from the hospital, they would have continued to try calling you or sent you a letter by now - they wouldn't discharge you without at least a letter. If they needed to see you back quickly they would even have contacted your GP to see if they have any other phone number for you. 

Most consultants or their specialist nurses prefer to speak to the patient, whether the news is good or bad. So a phone call, during Covid, is becoming more the route of contact - either to give the results or to make an appointment for you see them face to face. Don't panic if called in for an appointment - it doesn't always mean bad news - sometimes it's because the mole may be dysplastic (pre-cancerous) and they like to check all the other moles & monitor for a short time if that's the case.

There is every chance that the callers weren't the hospital. Sadly it's taking an average of 6 weeks for results at the moment so your results may still not be in yet. Good luck and please let us know how you get on,

Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient since 2009)

Hi Angie,

Thank you so much for your helpful reply. You put my mind at ease.

It wasnt the hospital after all that.

I've just spoken to the consultants secretary who said my results are on the system but have not been signed off yet but she will get to them and she will see what she wants to do either send me a letter or ring. (She said the consultant has had quite a lot of time off).

I was a week out, it's 7 weeks tomorrow (not 6 as in my post title) so now just got to carry on waiting.

Thanks again for your help Angie x

I'm glad you've managed to speak to someone, even though you still have to wait a while longer. Hopefully the consultant will deal with them quickly and you will hear from them very soon. Good luck and please let us know how you get on

Angie x

Hi Angie,

I just thought I'd update as I've finally received my results in the post today (9 and half weeks after biopsy) after I plucked up the courage to open the later (I was shaking)! I have a dermatofibroma.

This was originally a small round firm wart like bump on my shoulder that changed quite a lot over 15 months ish so it now looks like an ink splat , not symmetrical and now very dark pink instead of flesh coloured and more than doubled in size. The dermatologists differential diagnoses was irritated seborrheic keratosis, amelanotic malignant melanoma or DFSP (not sure what that last one is just reading it off the letter).

It ticked all the ABCDE warning signs aswell so I have been mentally preparing myself for 9 and a half weeks! 

I hope this helps to put someones mind at ease a little while waiting for biopsy results  x

That's wonderful news, although the wait for results is the longest I've heard of up to now!

My consultant thought I had a basal cell & it came back as a dermatofibroma. I wasn't concerned because I have two other on my legs that my former dermatologist diagnosed correctly with the naked eye! I even diagnosed my brother's lump on his leg as the same & it was confirmed by our dermatologist! They were right to remove yours because of the different possibilities it looked like. Funnily enough, I think more people are presenting with dermatofibroma these days, probably due to being outdoors more (being calcified insect bites). My specialist skin cancer nurse couldn't pronounce it when she rang to give me the biopsy results - she had never heard of it before!

At least now you are a little more educated as to the different types of skin growths and to keep an eye out for anything suspicious in the future. Thanks for coming back & updating us because it will help those who are currently going through the same worries.

Angie x