My hubby, age 55 with fair skin and numerous moles, went to the doctor for an unrelated matter when she noticed a mole the size of a pencil eraser on his left abdomen. It appeared black; no uneven edges and not raised. She used her special light on it and, because she found it to have "numerous colors," she referred him to a dermatologist on an emergent basis.
Two days later he was at the dermo's office and the dermo found another worrisome mole, on his right shoulder. Both moles were biopsied. From the path report, it appears that they were shave biopsies.
The diagnosis are as follows:
a: Skin, left abdomen, biopsy:
Compound melanocytic nevus, Clark's/dysplastic type, moderate to severely atypical, focally present at the peripheral margin, see comment.
b: Skin, right shoulder, biopsy:
Irritated compound melanocytic nevus, congenital pattern, see comment.
Comment:
A. Definite full transformation into melanoma is not interpreted. Nonetheless, there is moderate to severe architectural disorder and cytological atypia and consequentely full removal of any residual lesion is recommended. (scheduled for 11/4/15).
B. There is slight architectural disorder but no significant cytological atypia and the overall findingas appear benign.
Specimen Submitted:
A: Left Abdomen: Received in farmalin labeled with the pt's name and "left abdomen" is a light tan skin shave with a central pigmentation. The skin measures 0.8 cm x .7 cm. The pigmented region is 0.5 x 0.4 cm located less than than 0.1 cm from the nearest resection margin. The deep aspect is granular light tan. The resection margins are inked blue. The specimen is sectioned and entirely submitted in A1.
B. N/A since it appears benign.
Unknown as to how long this particular mole was there, as hubby has so many. From my research (thank you so much for this website–what a GIFT!), this was likely caught early enough so as to NOT be cancerous, but………
My question to the group is how likely is this to be melanoma? Hubby's parents have both had basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, but no family hx of melanoma.
It would have been better if the dermo had initially done a punch biopsy v. shave, correct? When she does the removal with two layers of sutures (as her medical assistant described), will it likely be the MOHS surgery or an excisional (like a lumpectomy, for a lack of better terms)?
We will do full body photographs of moles, after this treatment, for comparisons.
Thank you so much for reading my post and the feedback.
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