My 80 year old mother has just had a mole on her face removed that was found to be a stage 1 melanoma. She’s having the surrounding area removed further in a few weeks but they are not doing the slnb. Any ideas why they aren’t doing it, I’m worried that they’re not doing it because she is old.
Hi Rwi 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 your mum has recently been diagnosed with melanoma and I know, having had melanoma myself, what a difficult time this will be for you both.
It's great that your mum's melanoma has been caught early as reflected in the Stage 1 diagnosis. Her consultant will follow NICE guidelines as to whether a SLNB is required and her age does not come into that. If you click here it will take you to the NICE guidelines for offering a SLNB. You'll see that paragraphs 1.4.1, 1.4.3 and 1.4.4 describe when a SLNB should be offered. If you check those against the information on depth, etc you have for your mum's melanoma, you'll be able to see if she should be offered one or not.
It would be great if you could put something about your mum's diagnosis and treatment so far into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
