Sorry if this isn't the right place to post...

Honestly, after everything you've been through, I'm surprised you remember your own name! 

I know what it's like when there's been so much you take forward the important bits and let the rest lie. 

Hi - so I've got a lot of Seb K as well as a history of changing moles and it is possible for the derms to mix them up. I've had to be very insistent about wanting an excision for peace of mind on occasion based on my knowledge that it was a mole that had been there for years that had changed, which turned out to be severely dysplastic. On another occasion a decision was taken not to excise what the derms (one called in another for a second opinion) decided was actually a Seb K on top of a telangiectsa, while the shave biopsy they did turned out to be lentigo. It's not easy monitoring skin when there are a lot of different conditions, but I totally get where you are coming from here. I should say that I have had Seb K change rapidly and they can be a huge mix of different colours – some just raised, irregular brown, others with a real mix of colour. The fact that stands out for me therefore is your insistence that it had always been a mole. That was the key for me in insisting on the excision. I really hope you get good news. Please update on the results. Hoping you don't have to wait too long for the pathology.

Hi – have also had Seb K grow on top of a normal mole.

The hospital did arrange for me to have total body photography to help with the monitoring, though I think that may be less common nowadays as there are skin apps that people can use alongside a smart phone.

Prior to the total body photography, I just had photos taken with a dermoscopic camera of a couple of lesions that I was asked to monitor – one of these was eventually removed as it kept changing and the photography came in useful (another severely dysplastic lesion that started life as just a normal benign mole).

My GP surgery now has its own dermatoscope. 

I guess the most reassuring thing is if you don't have a history of dysplastic lesions or melanoma. I come from a melanoma family and have had a lot of dysplasia. So my case isn't really similar. 

Really hoping all turns out as the derms expect. x

Hi Rosalinda, 

Thanks so much for posting. 

I actually feel relieved you had to push for this to (of course, not that you had to but that I'm not alone). 

I really did try to politely say I wanted to go with our original plan but got told that it looked like a seb k yesterday so I couldn't have. For me, this just doesn't sit right because it has always been a mole. However, I could be completely wrong and it somehow turns out to be that. I know for a fact it wasn't a seb k last year because I had a full body check and the derm specifically told me to keep an eye on that mole because it was so dark. 

I also have dysplastic moles. I asked for full body photography - because I've had so many changing moles this last two years - but told that was only for people covered in moles. For me, I wanted it because so much is changing. I have other moles changing and have been told I need to go back to GP for those. I just feel mind-fudged by it all. And not very good at speaking up. 

The worry for me is that it changed so much through the six weeks - from initial appointment to scrape - and I went yesterday thinking, "at least it'll be out." So when that didn't happen I just have felt really stressed. 

As Latchbrook said, it's wasted energy, so I'm trying to put it aside. I guess my worry is, if it changes that much in a short time, and turns out to be something, a further wait could be potentially damaging/fatal? 

It just wouldn't have taken much more to take it out. 

With your seb Ks that changed, how did they change? I've had loads of seb Ks, and if they've changed it's been minimal. This, if it is a seb K, it's gone from having black blobs around the outside completely disappear. Darken colour in the middle spread, and it lengthen by 3mm and become jagged-edges, in just six weeks. Does that sound like yours? 

Hope you're okay? 

Hi – I totally get the appointment about wasted energy and it's important to manage anxiety. I definitely got that T-shirt!

The key thing is that a biopsy has been done so your lesion is being tested. In my case, I wasn't being offered a biopsy even when I stood my ground! So you will find out what it is. If it were a melanoma then you would need a WLE, so it's not like your would need nothing. Even with my dysplastic lesion I got called back to discuss a further op, although they decided that as the depth margins were good I could just continue to monitor the area. So it wasn't a case of have the biopsy and be done with it, it was a case of either monitor or do a further excision for better margins despite having the excision biopsy. (Have had other dysplastic lesions where a WLE was done). 

So the positive to focus on is that you will find out what it is from the pathology.

What does that leave? Well, you have those other lesions that you are monitoring so I guess you just have to go back to the GP. My heart sinks every time I get put on a 2WW – once had 3 in 4 months when I had pigment reappear in scar tissue. It's frustrating that this is how things work nowadays but the dermatologist explained how it is much easier for them this way and not to worry if I had to keep bothering the GP. 

I can't comment on your specific lesion, sorry. We're not allowed to give any medical advice on the forum and to be honest I've had such a huge variety. Sometimes things get inflamed or scratched accidentally, for example. You will just have to wait for the pathology. However, I can say that some of the changes have been rapid.

I did go through a period of feeling totally fed up of never being free of having to monitor so many lesions for change but have now accepted that this is how it is for me. Has to be done. So I just get on with it and when needed go back to GP.

I do think it's hard when we build ourselves up for one plan of action and then things don't work out quite the way we think. But on the bright side you had the biopsy which will lead to pathology results. 

And yes, I'm okay, thank you. Though it can be a bit of a mental strain dealing with so much change. You do have my sympathy here. Take care. x

I meant point about wasted energy ... sorry brain not totally in gear this afternoon.

Sorry if it seemed I was asking for advise - I'm still getting used to what can be said and what can't be. Sorry Macmillan! 

The odd thing with my situation is, I was in a cancer hospital having the biopsy when speaking of the other changes but was told to go back to the GP to look at them. This confuses me. Also - this year has been a bit of a fiasco with moles - when I had a mole bleed my GP didn't take a photo or offer to refer on two-week wait but suggested taking it out in surgery two months later. So I think I don't feel confident asking for this. To say I feel confused would be an understatement. 

You're right, the biopsy has been done. I wasn't sure if having a scrape would be enough but you've alleviated that concern, thank you! 

I think I will try to approach my GP to get the others looked at. 

Thanks so much for writing back - and sorry again for potentially breaking the rules!

Hi Luffy – please don't apologise. You haven't done anything wrong. Your concerns are all very natural. 

So you have a GP who can do excisions? That would suggest your GP has an interest in dermatology. 

I think right now you need to build your own confidence because you don't need to apologise to Macmillan about anything you posted. All you did was ask a natural question. That's okay. I was just flagging that I couldn't answer it so you didn't feel ignored. I certainly do have empathy with you here.

To build your confidence around talking to medical professionals there are several things you can do. For example, I rang a couple of nurse helplines (Macmillan and Cancer Research) in order to help me formulate the questions I needed to ask. I also wrote down all the concerns I had and about which lesions. Yes, my GP laughed at a few of them – "I'm not bothered about that!" – but that was okay.

Please, please, please don't feel embarrassed. x

Thank you so so so much. My confidence and self-worth is on the floor and I always worry I'm doing wrong. I'm dealing with a lot of other illness and I feel like I'm a bother to everyone (so it's easy to brush me off). 

Asking someone to help me work out the conversation to have is a really good idea, thank you. 

As regards asking about the other lesions in the cancer hospital, if you were booked in for a biopsy then that's all they would have been willing to do. And the safest thing from their point of view is for your GP to put you on a 2WW if any lesions are suspicious. It keeps you in the right system. Hope that makes sense! I actually wrote a follow-up letter about a lesion I forgot to get checked to a consultant thinking I was "in the system" and had it explained to me that it is very important that I go back to GP instead – or I might get "lost in the system"!!