Faster treatment privately?

Hi Bella567 and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.

I'm sorry to read that you need to have a mole removed because your GP/ dermatologist is concerned that it might be melanoma and I know what a worrying time this will be for you.

I paid for my initial consultation with a consultant dermatologist which cost £150. As I didn't have health insurance, and the consultant didn't think it was anything to worry about, I had the mole removed by the same consultant in his NHS practice a couple of months later.

As for whether you'd get the mole removed faster if you paid for it, my answer is I don't know. It's usually the same surgeons who work for the NHS as have a private practice so it depends how busy they are. The only way you'll find out what the likely timescale is, is to ring around some of the private hospitals in your area and ask. You can then compare that to the two months timescale you've been given to have it removed through the NHS.

You can read all about my 'journey' with melanoma if you click on either my profile picture or my username.

Do come back and let us know what you decide to do

Thank you for your response. Unfortunately I just noticed I have a very swollen armpit near the mole so things might be much worse. 

I have been moved up so that I'll have an appointment/ surgery within two weeks. Do they biopsy the lymph nodes at the same time do you know?

Many thanks.

Have you been moved up the list because you've told your consultant about the swollen lymph nodes or is it just that an earlier appointment is available?

The reason I ask is because normally an excision biopsy is done with a local anaesthetic in a treatment room with just the surgeon and a nurse present. When a lymph node is removed for biopsy it's done under a general anaesthetic in a theatre with a whole host of professionals there including the surgeon, anaesthetist, support staff, etc.

I have been moved up the list because I told them about the swollen lymph nodes. I will have the mole removed in four days. They also said that they will examine the lymph nodes. Shouldn't they be doing an excision biopsy at the least? 

I know this is saying the obvious but I wanted to just get it out. I'm absolutely terrified. My anxiety is through the roof. I can't even distract myself by watching TV because every person I see who is older than me is triggering. 

It's natural to want to have your mole removed as soon as possible Bella567 but, don't forget, it might just be an atypical mole and not melanoma.

Moles can look suspicious but once removed and biopsied, turn out not to be melanoma. Although the person who examined you is "worried it's melanoma", a visual examination cannot determine whether it is or isn't.

I've had two moles removed, one didn't look like melanoma and was and the other looked like a possible melanoma but wasn't.

Lymph nodes become swollen when they are fighting infections and not necessarily if cancer cells have travelled there. Your hospital team are experts in deciding what needs to be done and when so you need to trust them that an examination is all that is needed at the moment. Removing lymph nodes to biopsy isn't without possible side effects and would have probably delayed the removal of your mole if they needed to find theatre time, etc in order to do it.

You say that you're "absolutely terrified and your anxiety is through the roof". While it's perfectly natural to be worried about the excision biopsy and the fact that the mole may turn out to be melanoma, if your anxiety is affecting your day to day life you need to speak to your GP for help. You might also find this article on how to ease worry when waiting for medical results helpful.

When you have the mole removed next week, if the information isn't given to you, ask how quickly results are coming backing in your area of the country and who to contact if the results are not back in the time you've been told. You might also want to ask how you'll receive the results. Different hospitals have different protocols, ie some send results out in the post, others give you the results in a telephone appointment and others face-to-face. I find it helps to know how quickly I should hear and how.

If you want to know anything more about what happens at an excision biopsy I'm happy to share my experiences with you.

Thanks latchbrook for your response. I had the mole excision six days ago and they told me it can take up to eight weeks to get results back. I'm so discouraged about how delayed everything is in this country. I forgot to ask how results will be communicated to me. 

I found some other moles on my back and while they don't look asymmetrical like the one I got removed they are still concerning. Do people get moles removed and biopsied at private dermatologists? I doubt I would be able to get these ones done on the NHS.

Totally understand your anxiety I hate waiting and waiting on these types of results is even worse. I had two moles removed which I was sure would come back melanoma but luckily they came back atypical. I’ve had another two removed a week ago so waiting on these too. I’ve got a few other suspect moles so dermatologist is going to see what the results are for these before deciding what to do next. Latchbrook is right though, they may just be atypical. I’m lucky that I’ve gone private and got to be honest my experience has been amazing so far. From initial consultation I had the first two moles removed a week later. I had to wait just under 2 weeks for the results which I got by email.  All being well I’m hoping to find out my second set of results this week or Monday (depends on what they find). I would also add that the moles they’ve removed all look completely different. The ones on my back (atypical) were large and odd shaped. The other two were smaller, black and looked pretty normal (to me anyway).

Hi Bella567 

That's good to hear that you've had your excision and I hope you're not feeling too sore. Do you have to have the stitches removed or are they dissolvable ones?

Unfortunately, it can take anywhere between 2-8 weeks to get the results back as it depends how busy the pathology laboratories are in your area of the country. It was 6 weeks before I got mine back and that was nearly 7 years ago now.

I have had a couple more suspicious moles/lesions removed since my initial diagnosis but they were removed under the NHS. If you want to be seen privately you would need to pay for an initial consultation with a dermatologist, which costs about £150-£200. Then if the dermatologist felt the moles needed removing you would then pay for this to be done. I've no idea how much that might cost but your local private hospital should be able to give you a guide price.

If the mole you've had removed does come back as melanoma you'll be seen every 3-6 months for so many years depending on what the removed mole is staged at. Your NHS dermatologist would check you over to see if any more moles need removing and, if they did, you'd have this done by the NHS.

Do come back and let us know when you get your results. I'm keeping everything crossed for a benign result.

Hi – I considered doing this for a couple of moles – my local NHS hospital offers both private and NHS treatments.

However, in the end, I got hold of a skin monitoring app recommended by the Melanoma Society (there was a free trial) and then, armed with proof my moles were suspicious, got the GP to refer me resulting in some being removed for free on the NHS and others subject to on-going monitoring by GP (I did not keep app subscription as I was using friend's phone re free trial – don't have my own smartphone – but do my own visual checks.

Have just checked and Melanoma UK charity does still have free trial (though only 7 days) for a Skin Vision app.

Am not suggesting you rely solely on something like this, but if an app flags moles as suspicious it could help you get seen on NHS quicker and for free.

The moles I had removed turned out to be moderately and severely dysplastic. They were changing but only slow changes.

For what it's worth, the moles that I had removed which were severely dysplastic originally struck me as less suspicious than others I was more worried about. 

Elleroo your experiences going private seem the best I've heard of so far. I was wondering if I could PM you (is there a way to do that through these forums?) to get more info about these private consultations, if that's ok with you. Or if that's not possible would you mind just sharing where you went?

I'm so glad that your moles have come back atypical. I'm also so glad that where you went they took your concerns seriously. I think that's so important because some dermatologists might not.

Best of luck for your upcoming results.