Newly diagnosed melanoma in situ. Awaiting wide excision.

Hi Phil74 and a very warm welcome to our corner of the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.

I was diagnosed with Stage 2 melanoma, so don't have any experience with melanoma in situ to share with you, but I noticed that your post hadn't had any replies yet.

It is very disappointing that you weren't given information, in the form of a leaflet, about your diagnosis as this would have answered a lot of your questions. If you click here it will take you to the leaflet about what melanoma in situ is, how it's treated, etc that the British Association of Dermatologists produces to be given out to patients.

If you scroll down to page 3 of the leaflet it explains that the wide local excision (WLE), that you're having today, is the standard treatment after melanoma in situ is found that usually no further tests, ie scans, are needed.

The leaflet then goes on to explain that you'll have a follow-up appointment after your WLE and then you're usually discharged. It advises that you check your skin once a month for any new moles or changes to existing moles and also gives advice about how to protect yourself in the sun.

It would be great if you could put something about your diagnosis and treatment 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.

I hope everything goes well today and do pop back to let us know how you got on.

Anne

Hey Phil74 

Sorry to hear of your news, but the plus side is that in situ is the least serious stage of melanoma so if it's confirmed as such, this works massively in your favour with the least invasive treatments and extremely high cure rates.

I was diagnosed with a melanoma on my calf back in 2018 at stage 1b, which is the magic stage where a sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is generally offered in conjunction with a wide local excision (WLE) to check for potential spread to nearby lymph nodes, the goal being to gain more information on how the melanoma is behaving.

I had the WLE and SLNB done together in early December 2018, received clear results from both procedures three weeks later, was monitored for changes for five years under my dermatology department, have had no recurrence of melanoma to date (touching wood!) and didn't have a single scan.

Hopefully you will have the WLE with no further issues, however I do understand the fear and even though now I'm now nearly 7.5 years clear, I do become concerned when something new appears that could be connected to it. Having other health issues on top on this is definitely going to add to the stress of dealing with this.

I hope this is as straightforward a fix for you as possible and you're able to find some great support on here.

And if you have any questions about my experience, feel free to hit me with them!

All the best. x

Thank you. I have had the WLE which resulted in 15 stitches and a VERY sore leg. I am thankful that it was caught early as it could have been a different story if left. Thank you for your reply, I really appreciate it.

Best regards 

Phil

Thank you.

Apologies I missed the procedure date in your post.

Yeah, ends up being a lot bigger than you thought it would be, doesn't it? Mine looks like a shark bite!

Well done for taking action and I hope you heal up nicely. 

Thank you