Hi,

I'm sorry that you are going through this worrying time. Skin cancer is very rare in someone so young so hopefully the mole is fine or at the very least, dysplastic (benign but cells are changing in the mole & they can become malignant in the future). It's not unusual for juvenile moles to get larger and change colour in the early years so hopefully your doctor is being over cautious and getting the experts to check it out.

I know that having a family member who had skin cancer can raise the anxiety but the chance of it running in your family is very small. It will all depend on what type of skin cancer it was (squamous cell and basal cell are not hereditary & are only caused by UV damage). Melanoma is, in the main, caused by sun damage in our youth & it usually manifests itself in our adult years. Melanoma caused by genetics (Familial melanoma) is only found in 10% of cases and it mainly affects close family members (parent, child, sibling) so if your relative is more distantly related there is a much less chance of this being the case with your son.

I hope that you aren't waiting too long for the appointment and that, when checked with the dematascope (microscope that will show if there is any unusual cell activity in the mole) they can give your son a clean bill of health. Good luck and please let us know how you get on,

Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient since 2009)

Thank you for the reply. It was my grandmother who has skin cancer which was melanoma. We had the appointment today and he is being referred to a plastic surgeon to have it removed with a max wait of 4 weeks. The dr said she is concerned with the colour and the edges of the mole. She also said it was deep but I'm not too sure of the relevance of that. She also measured the mole but I don't know how big it was. Think I was in shock and didn't want my son to know I was worried. She said they will do a biopsy of the mole. How long after the surgery do you usually get the results? 

Hi,

I'm sorry that he has to go through this but they are taking good care of him in removing it. Hopefully it comes back as benign or dysplastic. The wait for results is varying enormously depending on each hospital trust. A few are managing to get them back by 2 weeks (the pre Covid time line) whilst many are anything up to 6 weeks. Hopefully, due to your son's age, they will be back quicker than the average waiting time. Your gran's melanoma may have no bearing on your son's chance of it being malignant - the odds are reduced with every generation of relationship, but you can never tell for sure. Melanoma is the most unpredictable of cancers so I'm crossing my fingers for you. Please let us know how he gets on,

Angie x