› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Dark spot in excision scar
- This topic has 18 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 5 months ago by
StevenK.
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- July 8, 2011 at 5:14 pm
There's a dark spot appearing in my excision scar. It's not a scab and it is really scaring me because it seems to be exactly where the orginal lesion was. The wide excision came back with no signs of mm, so how is this possible? Could mm be back just three weeks later? I called my doctor, but he went home at noon. Have to wait until Monday. Is there something else it could be? Blood beneath the skin? Has anyone else had dark spots in their excision scar that scared them?
Thanks in advance for your reply,
Steve
There's a dark spot appearing in my excision scar. It's not a scab and it is really scaring me because it seems to be exactly where the orginal lesion was. The wide excision came back with no signs of mm, so how is this possible? Could mm be back just three weeks later? I called my doctor, but he went home at noon. Have to wait until Monday. Is there something else it could be? Blood beneath the skin? Has anyone else had dark spots in their excision scar that scared them?
Thanks in advance for your reply,
Steve
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- July 8, 2011 at 5:23 pm
Bruising, a stitch, or a freckle. I've had dark freckles grow back in two different WLE's. I have freckles in the area and my derm says that if you cut through a freckle, they often grow back bigger through the scar.
You said you had clear margins on the WLE. Most likely, this is not melanoma. Take a picture of it for reference and call your doctor again on Monday. Don't stress too much, you're going to take care of it!
Best wishes,
Janner
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- July 8, 2011 at 5:23 pm
Bruising, a stitch, or a freckle. I've had dark freckles grow back in two different WLE's. I have freckles in the area and my derm says that if you cut through a freckle, they often grow back bigger through the scar.
You said you had clear margins on the WLE. Most likely, this is not melanoma. Take a picture of it for reference and call your doctor again on Monday. Don't stress too much, you're going to take care of it!
Best wishes,
Janner
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- July 8, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Hi Steve,
I've had two surgeries-to remove primary and to remove tissue and lypmh nodes-all came back negative.Anyway pap smear done 10 months later showed some suspicious cells and I've had a biopsy done.A colposcopy was performed and a single dark spot near the original surgery area came back positive for melanoma again .Please note that melanoma cells tend to behave erratic and do not always take the lymphatic channels: they can spread locally/ troughout the body via the blood vessels.
You should have the dark spot tested ASAP;I hope that you have no reasons to worry but it does not make any harm to be on the safe side.
Best Regards,
Teodora
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- July 8, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Hi Steve,
I've had two surgeries-to remove primary and to remove tissue and lypmh nodes-all came back negative.Anyway pap smear done 10 months later showed some suspicious cells and I've had a biopsy done.A colposcopy was performed and a single dark spot near the original surgery area came back positive for melanoma again .Please note that melanoma cells tend to behave erratic and do not always take the lymphatic channels: they can spread locally/ troughout the body via the blood vessels.
You should have the dark spot tested ASAP;I hope that you have no reasons to worry but it does not make any harm to be on the safe side.
Best Regards,
Teodora
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- July 8, 2011 at 5:34 pm
It has been almost three years since my WLE, but I remember having a dark spot about 1/2 inch from the left side of my scar mere weeks after surgery. When I went for my followup, the derm said not to worry as this is most likely a blood vessel.
It cleared up and went away.
So, hopefully it is just a burst blood vessel or something else related to surgery. Have you derm look at it, but try not to worry until then.
Michael 1b
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- July 8, 2011 at 5:34 pm
It has been almost three years since my WLE, but I remember having a dark spot about 1/2 inch from the left side of my scar mere weeks after surgery. When I went for my followup, the derm said not to worry as this is most likely a blood vessel.
It cleared up and went away.
So, hopefully it is just a burst blood vessel or something else related to surgery. Have you derm look at it, but try not to worry until then.
Michael 1b
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- July 8, 2011 at 5:58 pm
Again I am deeply thankful for your replies. Discovering a mysterious dark spot at the same location as my primary is pretty unnerving for me. It's not like I was dealing with everything calmly to begin with. Your replies help me let the air out of the balloon of panic that's been rising in me again. I don't know how I would make it through the weekend without your help. Thanks so much.
Steve
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- July 8, 2011 at 5:58 pm
Again I am deeply thankful for your replies. Discovering a mysterious dark spot at the same location as my primary is pretty unnerving for me. It's not like I was dealing with everything calmly to begin with. Your replies help me let the air out of the balloon of panic that's been rising in me again. I don't know how I would make it through the weekend without your help. Thanks so much.
Steve
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- July 9, 2011 at 4:29 am
I had the same thing happen on my excision 11 years ago right after my stage 3 dx. Both my derm and my onc watched it for about 2 years, each saying it was nothing to worry about. We moved from Cincinnati to Chicago and my new derm wanted it off immediately. It turned out to be mm insitu. My derm said she couldn't tell me if it was something left over from the orig mm or it was a new one. Thankfully since it was only insitu I didn't need any additional excision or treatment. I would ask for it to be removed just for peace of mind. As an MRF board member, I have heard some of our researchers say it only takes one left over cell that multiplies to start the whole mm cycle over.
Good luck and take care!
Cara Tindell
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- July 9, 2011 at 4:29 am
I had the same thing happen on my excision 11 years ago right after my stage 3 dx. Both my derm and my onc watched it for about 2 years, each saying it was nothing to worry about. We moved from Cincinnati to Chicago and my new derm wanted it off immediately. It turned out to be mm insitu. My derm said she couldn't tell me if it was something left over from the orig mm or it was a new one. Thankfully since it was only insitu I didn't need any additional excision or treatment. I would ask for it to be removed just for peace of mind. As an MRF board member, I have heard some of our researchers say it only takes one left over cell that multiplies to start the whole mm cycle over.
Good luck and take care!
Cara Tindell
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- July 9, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Even though a path report says clear margins, some cells can still sneak in. I had a recurrence right in the middle of my skin graft and it appeared as an extremely small dot. Biopsy showed it to be melanoma. The only difference is that mine came a few months after surgery, instead of a few weeks.
Please insist on a biopsy.
Nicki, Stage 3b
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- July 9, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Even though a path report says clear margins, some cells can still sneak in. I had a recurrence right in the middle of my skin graft and it appeared as an extremely small dot. Biopsy showed it to be melanoma. The only difference is that mine came a few months after surgery, instead of a few weeks.
Please insist on a biopsy.
Nicki, Stage 3b
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- July 12, 2011 at 6:58 pm
I saw my derm today. The dark spot turned out to be a stitch working it's way to the surface, as well as a couple of in-grown hairs in the same spot. I guess a granuloma or something had formed around them. It was dark and round and in the same location as my primary so it really scared me. There was nothing that needed to be biopsied. I'm relieved, of course. Thanks again for the replies that helped calm me. Next up for me is a SNB, hopefully in a couple of weeks.
Best regards, Steve
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- July 12, 2011 at 6:58 pm
I saw my derm today. The dark spot turned out to be a stitch working it's way to the surface, as well as a couple of in-grown hairs in the same spot. I guess a granuloma or something had formed around them. It was dark and round and in the same location as my primary so it really scared me. There was nothing that needed to be biopsied. I'm relieved, of course. Thanks again for the replies that helped calm me. Next up for me is a SNB, hopefully in a couple of weeks.
Best regards, Steve
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