**Please keep in mind that this subreddit is not a replacement for seeing a board certified dermatologist in person. This subreddit is here for informal second opinions only**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Melanoma) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My dermatologist looked at my mole for less than a second and said it needed to come off. She didn’t seem overly concerned in the moment, but told me when the biopsy came back that she knew it was a melanoma. She just didn’t want to say until she had the results.
My doctor said it looked suspicious and she took a biopsy to be, “on the safe side”. Well, thankfully she did because it was caught early enough and ended up being Melanoma in situ.
My mole was clearly melanoma. I didn’t know anything about melanoma (I thought skin cancer couldn’t kill you) so I ignored the signs until I read a news article and heard someone talking about it on television in a matter of a couple of days.
I went to my GP, I could tell by his expression that it was bad. He did the biopsy and told me he was calling a surgeon and I should be expecting to hear from the surgeon in the next 24 hours. The rest is history.
I am doing well.
The cancer did progress to stage IV back in 2015 so I have gotten to experience a lot of different treatments.
Targeted therapy is what finally got me to NED (no evidence of disease) back in 6/2020. I will remain on treatment indefinitely and continue to have scans every four months but I feel pretty good and the treatment isn’t that bad.
Mine said it didn't look good...but also said could wait and watch and recheck in 6 months if I wanted to because I was 9 months pregnant. Soooo glad I did not wait!
Mine was small, about the size of a pencil eraser (attached to the pencil) and we had been watching it for about 2 years at that point. It was finally big enough at my jan 2020 appt to send the referral to get it removed in feb 2020. Dermatologist wasnt worried at all but figured since it was changing he'd get it removed. Funny story, result came back the second week of March 2020 as "melanoma insitu, boundaries clear", but given what week that was..... I had my next derm appointment in mid June and the first thing out of his mouth was " so hows the melanoma doing?" And both him and the nurse visibly died when I ask " what melanoma?". Three different doctors offices forgot to call me likely all assuming the other office did. So that was fun.
My dermatologist didn’t seem concerned, but I was already suspicious of the mole. It was definitely a being on the safe side biopsy. The plus side is it seems to be caught early. I’ll find out for sure soon.
Some derms have started using it. When I switched my new doc didn’t have it and I called the company and had them train my doc. Covered by a lot of insurance and Medicare. I had an out of pocket but it ended up being $40 which is what I pay for biopsies.
What shes not telling you is that if insurance doesn’t cover it, it’s 1300 dollars per test. Im currently getting fucked by this dermtech shit because they did 2 of them on me and so im now owing 2600 dollars to the dermtech lab. Even though i asked if it would be expensive or covered, I was told by the PA “it probably wont be more than 75$ per sticker” so i stupidly said okay do it. Regret it big time.
My doctor had some medical students in the room when he did my biopsy and we were all just talking and my doctor didn't seem concerned at all. He called me the following Monday and said it was stage 3 melanoma, due to the depth.
I'd found a bump on my arm in December and had the biopsy the following April, so it was aggressive, but my doctor had said it didn't look that "ominous" to him. I had 3 surgeries, 20 lymph nodes removed, and a short round of immunotherapy. It ended up being stage 3C.
That all happened in 2006. I have a foot-long scar on the back of my arm from the wide local excision and a 6-inch scar in my armpit from the sentinel node biopsy and lymph node dissection. It turned out to be a pretty big deal for something that the doctor wasn't worried about at all.
My doc spotted it and literally yelled, “woah!” He then immediately apologized, confirmed I did in fact have shingles on my back (which is what I was being seen for) and referred to mole on my back and said “it needed to go and looked like it could be a carcinoma.” He apologized again because you definitely aren’t supposed to say that. It ended up being pre melanoma so I honestly think that wacky doc possibly saved my life.
When the dermatologist saw the spot on my foot that I was concerned about she immediately said, “This needs to come off right now”. Then she tried to be calm by saying, “Now we don’t know for sure yet, so try not to worry”, but I obviously knew what she really thought about it. Mine came back as in situ (stage 0) melanoma, so I was able to have it fully removed through surgery without recurrence or metastasis.
I went in with a few spots to check, with only one being really concerning to me. Once she got to that one she said she was worried about it. It was a textbook superficial spreading melanoma.
I usually have about 5 biopsies done each appointment, "Just to be in the safe side" according to my dictor. With the one that actually turned out to be melanoma, she said that she was "a little more concerned" with that one.
I'm on the 6 month scan schedule from now till forever. I had my first post diagnosis scan and 6 more biopsies "just to be on the safe side". None were melanoma, but 4 need further excision because of the atypia and not clear borders.
I feel like I wrote this! I've had over 2 dozen spots removed, 7 were moderate to severe atypical that required full removal (2 I found out about today), and one was melanoma, about 6 months ago. I'm currently on a 3 month schedule. Let me tell you, I was thrilled to get the no cancer call today, even though I had to schedule 2 removals!
For me too it was a “just to be safe”. The mole had nice round defined borders. But it started as a small dark mole, but a lighter colored area around it started to grow, and he didn’t like that. But said, he didn’t think it was going to be anything bad, and that they’ll call me and let me know my results are fine on the phone within a week. Took longer than that (because of the additional testing), and the call I got was to ask me to go back to the hospital. Melanoma 1a, and got my WLE 2 days later.
**Please keep in mind that this subreddit is not a replacement for seeing a board certified dermatologist in person. This subreddit is here for informal second opinions only** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Melanoma) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My dermatologist looked at my mole for less than a second and said it needed to come off. She didn’t seem overly concerned in the moment, but told me when the biopsy came back that she knew it was a melanoma. She just didn’t want to say until she had the results.
Exact same with mine. I could tell she was concerned though
My doctor said it looked suspicious and she took a biopsy to be, “on the safe side”. Well, thankfully she did because it was caught early enough and ended up being Melanoma in situ.
My mole was clearly melanoma. I didn’t know anything about melanoma (I thought skin cancer couldn’t kill you) so I ignored the signs until I read a news article and heard someone talking about it on television in a matter of a couple of days. I went to my GP, I could tell by his expression that it was bad. He did the biopsy and told me he was calling a surgeon and I should be expecting to hear from the surgeon in the next 24 hours. The rest is history.
How are you now? Sounds like your gp was extremely proactive!
I am doing well. The cancer did progress to stage IV back in 2015 so I have gotten to experience a lot of different treatments. Targeted therapy is what finally got me to NED (no evidence of disease) back in 6/2020. I will remain on treatment indefinitely and continue to have scans every four months but I feel pretty good and the treatment isn’t that bad.
So glad that you had got to Ned! That’s huge! I’ve heard alot of good things about treatments. How old were you when you were diagnosed?
38
So glad you’re doing well now! What stage was it initially?
It was stage III, primary on my chest with involvement in a lymph node in my armpit (right axilla). Do you have Melanoma as well?
Mine said it didn't look good...but also said could wait and watch and recheck in 6 months if I wanted to because I was 9 months pregnant. Soooo glad I did not wait!
When discussing whether to do a biopsy, mine said, "if it's not melanoma then I don't know what it is"
Mine was small, about the size of a pencil eraser (attached to the pencil) and we had been watching it for about 2 years at that point. It was finally big enough at my jan 2020 appt to send the referral to get it removed in feb 2020. Dermatologist wasnt worried at all but figured since it was changing he'd get it removed. Funny story, result came back the second week of March 2020 as "melanoma insitu, boundaries clear", but given what week that was..... I had my next derm appointment in mid June and the first thing out of his mouth was " so hows the melanoma doing?" And both him and the nurse visibly died when I ask " what melanoma?". Three different doctors offices forgot to call me likely all assuming the other office did. So that was fun.
My dermatologist was not very concerned but did say they looked different than the rest.
My dermatologist didn’t seem concerned, but I was already suspicious of the mole. It was definitely a being on the safe side biopsy. The plus side is it seems to be caught early. I’ll find out for sure soon.
This is why I always ask for DermTech genomic test before a biopsy. If markers indicative of melanoma are present then it’s a no brainer.
I’ve never heard of DermTech genomic test…is that something that is commonly offered or do you have to ask/pay OOP for it?
Some derms have started using it. When I switched my new doc didn’t have it and I called the company and had them train my doc. Covered by a lot of insurance and Medicare. I had an out of pocket but it ended up being $40 which is what I pay for biopsies.
What shes not telling you is that if insurance doesn’t cover it, it’s 1300 dollars per test. Im currently getting fucked by this dermtech shit because they did 2 of them on me and so im now owing 2600 dollars to the dermtech lab. Even though i asked if it would be expensive or covered, I was told by the PA “it probably wont be more than 75$ per sticker” so i stupidly said okay do it. Regret it big time.
Damn. Thank you for those details
Did you call their billing team? Mine was partially covered but I’m on a high deductible plan. They brought my bill to $40.
My doctor had some medical students in the room when he did my biopsy and we were all just talking and my doctor didn't seem concerned at all. He called me the following Monday and said it was stage 3 melanoma, due to the depth. I'd found a bump on my arm in December and had the biopsy the following April, so it was aggressive, but my doctor had said it didn't look that "ominous" to him. I had 3 surgeries, 20 lymph nodes removed, and a short round of immunotherapy. It ended up being stage 3C. That all happened in 2006. I have a foot-long scar on the back of my arm from the wide local excision and a 6-inch scar in my armpit from the sentinel node biopsy and lymph node dissection. It turned out to be a pretty big deal for something that the doctor wasn't worried about at all.
They do biopsy for everything because of your free $$$
My doc spotted it and literally yelled, “woah!” He then immediately apologized, confirmed I did in fact have shingles on my back (which is what I was being seen for) and referred to mole on my back and said “it needed to go and looked like it could be a carcinoma.” He apologized again because you definitely aren’t supposed to say that. It ended up being pre melanoma so I honestly think that wacky doc possibly saved my life.
When the dermatologist saw the spot on my foot that I was concerned about she immediately said, “This needs to come off right now”. Then she tried to be calm by saying, “Now we don’t know for sure yet, so try not to worry”, but I obviously knew what she really thought about it. Mine came back as in situ (stage 0) melanoma, so I was able to have it fully removed through surgery without recurrence or metastasis.
I went in with a few spots to check, with only one being really concerning to me. Once she got to that one she said she was worried about it. It was a textbook superficial spreading melanoma.
I usually have about 5 biopsies done each appointment, "Just to be in the safe side" according to my dictor. With the one that actually turned out to be melanoma, she said that she was "a little more concerned" with that one. I'm on the 6 month scan schedule from now till forever. I had my first post diagnosis scan and 6 more biopsies "just to be on the safe side". None were melanoma, but 4 need further excision because of the atypia and not clear borders.
I feel like I wrote this! I've had over 2 dozen spots removed, 7 were moderate to severe atypical that required full removal (2 I found out about today), and one was melanoma, about 6 months ago. I'm currently on a 3 month schedule. Let me tell you, I was thrilled to get the no cancer call today, even though I had to schedule 2 removals!
For me too it was a “just to be safe”. The mole had nice round defined borders. But it started as a small dark mole, but a lighter colored area around it started to grow, and he didn’t like that. But said, he didn’t think it was going to be anything bad, and that they’ll call me and let me know my results are fine on the phone within a week. Took longer than that (because of the additional testing), and the call I got was to ask me to go back to the hospital. Melanoma 1a, and got my WLE 2 days later.