Delay in getting a biopsy done

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Hello everyone just signed up because I have a question.

I'm a 44 year old male, considered high risk and go for full skin exams every 3-6 months. Over the last couple years I've had several suspicious moles removed some immediately with margins due to being highly suspicious. Thankfully they have been atypical or pre so far.

The other day I noticed 2 brand new moles, due to location I had my neighbor (a registered nurse) look at them and take a picture of them. One meets all the criteria for being suspicious of cancer, the other might not be over 1/4 inch but is close and meets all the other criteria.

I called my dermatologist and they said the soonest they could see me is about 5 weeks away. Is this to long a wait for the biopsy? Should I push hard for a earlier appointment?

Thanks for any insights.

Edwina over 1 year ago

Hi,

Can completely appreciate your angst, I was told my mole was suspicious and needed to be removed as a priority. There was a wait list and I was scheduled to have it removed 2 weeks later. My anxiety surrounding that wait was severe, luckily, I was seen within 2 days as a cancellation appeared. My mole subsequently turned out to be melanoma in situ, stage 0.

My advice would be to see a GP asap, if they agree they are suspicious you will referred to a dermatologist as urgent and I think you would be seen within a fortnight. In my experience, it pays to be making calls to check for cancellations; the service is really busy, but I think if you can call and check for cancellations, in my experience, you may get seen sooner.

All the best,

formernuke over 1 year ago in reply to Edwina

They had a cancelation and got me in Monday. The dermatologist said something that makes me glad as she hinted that she thinks it's going to come back positive. But we will see hopefully next week when the results come in.

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