Worried about a mole...

[BellaBoo0512]

I'm fair skinned so have quite a few moles. I was born with a mole on my stomach and had to have it removed when I was 11 years old.

I've got a mole under my right boob and these past few weeks it's been really itchy and I've noticed that it looks different. I've been googling up online and it could be melanoma which is a type of skin cancer.

Now I'm absolutely terrified.. I lost my dad to cancer in October 2012 and I'm so scared

Has anyone had a mole and it's turned out to be nothing?

 

[Loobs]

I don't have any personal experience of this hun, but I'm a nurse so hope I can help a little.

Quite simply, if you are worried about it, get it checked. There is no harm in getting a doctor to look at it.

The absolutely worst thing you can do is google things, although I know its hard not to (I do it too sometimes) but there are too many horror stories out there. Most moles turn out to be nothing! I've had a few of my own looked at by a doctor to reassure me, and they are totally fine. Maybe yours has changed appearance by the skin being broken by scratching?

x

 

[dgirllamius]

I have a mole on my toe which I was worried about. I had it checked under a dermoscope (or whatever its called - that microscope thing they use). I was told it wasn't dangerous but could have it removed while I will do sometime soon.

Have you checked ABCDE on it?

A - asymmetrical - is it perfectly round or mishaped? Melanoma is usually mishaped
B - border - does it have a border? Borders of melanoma tend to be uneven.

C - colour - is it even in colour or a mix of different shades? A normal mole will usually be one colour whereas melanoma will have a mix.

D - diameter - is it bigger than 6mm? Melanoma is usually bigger than 6mm (think the rubber part of a pencil) but early melanoma may be smaller.

E - evolving - sudden change in size, itching, bleeding or crusting may be a sign of danger.

If yours matches ANY of those get checked. My mole didn't match any but I still wanted to check. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[BellaBoo0512]

Thank you for both of your replies. I am going to bite the bullet and give the doctors a ring to make an appointment. I haven't been scratching it because I'm scared of scratching it off but my bra keeps rubbing on it.

I'll try and attach a pic x

 

[dgirllamius]

Doesn't look like anything related to melanoma...if you actually saw pictures of what it looked like then you'd really understand them much better. However normal looking moles can form into a cancerous mole so it's best to just get it checked if you haven't noticed it before or there's a sudden change in it.

The one on my toe is about the size of a pencil rubber, very strange place to get a mole too. Often people miss moles on their feet because it's an area not commonly looked at. I didn't notice it until about 3 months after my LO was born when I was cutting my toe nails. It hasn't got any bigger since and as I said I have had it checked under a dermoscope thingymajig.

Certainly don't settle with them just looking at it, get a referral to a dermatologist who can have a look under the scope. My doctor looked at it and said he "thinks" it's not dangerous but to check anyway so I got referred.

 

[messica]

Number one rule - if a mole changes in any way, without question have it looked at.

It's hard to judge scale based on your picture, and it may not look terrible by melanoma standards, but that doesn't mean it's benign. (That it's changed doesn't mean it's malignant either but you can't know either way by just looking at it!)


I'm glad to hear you're going to have it checked