2 week pathway for dodgy moles

Hi MercyK.

I went to my GP exactly a year ago with three suspicious looking moles. Like you, I was put on a two week pathway, and seen the following week at the hospital  dermatology clinic.  At the appointment, the dermatologist looked at the moles in question, but he also looked at the rest of my body. So if you have any other concerns, make sure you tell them.  Hopefully they will give you a thorough skin check anyway, but it would probably help them if you could explain your concerns to them.

Hope you get seen soon.  The waiting is really hard!

Thank you for replying! That's put my mind at ease appreciate it. yes exactly that the wait is the hardest part!! Hope yours came back all ok? 

When  I had my appointment, the first stage was to arrange for the suspicious moles to be excised for biopsy. It was when the results came back that I found out that one of them was a melanoma. It was  on my upper arm and because it was over a certain depth, it was then  completely removed by a wider local excision, which meant that they cut out about 2 cm around the site of the melanoma.  I also had a sentinel lymph node biopsy In my armpit at the same time, to see whether any cancer cells had spread, so the whole lot was done under general anaesthetic. Fortunately there was no evidence of any cancer cells in the WLE site or the sentinel lymph nodes.  

Now I’m still being seen by the dermatology department every three months for a skin check and if I have any worries in the meantime, I send a photo to 2 lovely Macmillan nurses in the hospital.  As you can imagine, having had one melanoma, your mind goes into anxiety overdrive every time you see anything remotely different.  Even an insect bite starts to look suspicious.  I recently had a new spot under my wrist strap, which turned out to be contact dermatitis, but the nurses were lovely, showed it to a specialist and reassured me from the photo that it was nothing to worry about.

I hope that your appointment at the hospital goes well and that if you do need to have any further treatment, that you don’t have to wait too long. Do keep in touch and let us know how you get on.

Wow thats where one of my moles is upper arm. You been through it! If ever need anyone to talk to im here! Im feeling bit more positive today but still in back of my mind. Good to know they keep in touch and check regularly. I am constantly checking every inch of me now! Thank you will do.