› Forums › Cutaneous Melanoma Community › Risk level after an atypical mole
- This topic has 5 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 10 months ago by
Paulajane.
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- June 30, 2018 at 6:15 pm
Hi all,
Hoping to find a little guidance, because I’ve only recently found out about melanoma, and am pretty frightened. Not by diagnosis – I’m 32 and just had a moderately atypical mole removed. I have another that looks like it but smaller, but my derm said it looked fine during my full check and wasn’t worried enough for either biopsy or removal. Didn’t even say it looked atypical. She did her residency at a melanoma institute in DC and has been in practice for 20 years,so I’ve trusted her judgement. I see her in 6 months, and she thinks we’ll be fine to bump to yearly checks after that.
My issue/question is determining my risk. There were two months in my mid-20s that I used tanning beds occasionally. I think once a week. I’ve never gone since then and lord knows I never will again, after all I’ve read. Now I feel like I’ve doomed myself for skin cancer. One article said that a single use increases my risk by 75%. So now I’m essentially guaranteed to develop melanoma?
We have no melanoma history on either side, but my dad did have a basal or sqaumous carcinoma removed in his 50s. I don’t have a history of blistering sunburns. It may have happened once in my life. I’m fair-skinned but do tan instead of just burning ( not that I lay out and try ). Fewer than 20 moles I think. Nothing big.
I know these factors aren’t cumulative but I guess I’m just anxious over what tanning did to my body. I’m afraid of every single spot now and find myself second-guessing whether places are new or old. Just hoping for advice, and that the atypical spot will be my only brush with the scary stuff.
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- July 1, 2018 at 3:53 pm
Hi there,
I do believe an atypical mole does increase your risk for Melanoma, but I am not a doctor. You should follow-up with your dermatologist with any questions.
Let me say this: you are NOT guaranteed or doomed to get Melanoma. However, you should still be proactive about monitoring any changes to your skin.
Last year I had a *severely* atypical mole biopsied. My doctor called it pre-cancerous, and I had a lot of skin taken out around it. After that, my dermatologist was straightforward with me and told me that I am now at an increased risk to develop Melanoma because of my severely atypical mole. It was recommended to see the dermatologist every 6-12 months. Because of this, I started tracking my moles on my own with photos. Almost one year later exactly, I have just been diagnosed with Stage 1 Melanoma from a different mole.
Here is my advise to you, which may have saved my life:
Keep track of your moles. This should be easy since you don't have many. Take pictures of all of them every 3-6 months and see if you see a border or color change. This is how I found my Melanoma. To the doctor my Melanoma didn't look like anything out of the ordinary, but I knew because of my photo from 6 months ago that the had border changed. Even the dermatologist wouldn't have spot it. You know your body best, so be your #1 advocate. If you notice any changes get it checked it right away.
FYI, only 20% of Melanoma come from existing moles. If you develop a new mole or freckle keep track of that one. 80% of Melanomas come from new spots/moles.
My point isn't to scare you. You may NEVER develop Melanoma. Just be diligent about any changes to your skin. If caught early, your prognisis is good.
Don't worry too much : )
-Laura
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- July 2, 2018 at 12:26 pm
Thank you, Laura. My doctor didn’t tell me she thought I was higher risk now, but I guess I can assume that by the fact that she wants to continue seeing me once a year. She also just labeled the mole as moderate, instead of moderate-severe, so maybe that’s a good thing.
I will certainly take your advice and take pictures of my existing moles. And watch out for new ones as well. And you’re right. Reading around the internet generally doesn’t help my mindset at all, but I’ve seen that statistics are excellent for melanoma caught early.
I certainly hope that’s the case with yours, and that you kick it in the butt. 🙂 Prayers going up for you.
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- July 1, 2018 at 5:12 pm
Do take Laura’s wise advice. I’d just like to add that a 75% risk increase does not mean 75% likelihood of getting melanoma. It means whatever the risk is for people who do not use tanning beds, it’s 75% more likely than for them.
MADE UP UNTRUE EXAMPLE: I don’t know what the risk is for the average non-tanning bed person, but make pretend it’s 1 in 1,000 people. If that was increased by 75%, it would be 1.75 out of 1,000 people. In other words, fewer than 2 people. A person and 3/4s. Make sense?
That’s not to say not to be diligent, and there are other risk factors. Just that that kind of statistic can be alarming if not parsed.
Beth
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- July 2, 2018 at 1:30 pm
Ah, okay, that makes a lot more sense. That was really terrifying to read at first. I’m not bright at all when it comes to math, so I appreciate the example breakdown, lol. I did a risk assessment a while back through cancer.gov that put me at .09%, not factoring in tanning beds or an atypical mole. It actually used a similar presentation – .09 people out of 1,000 with my same stats would go on to develop melanoma. Probably boosted up to 1-2 if it had factored in those other two things.
I will absolutely be diligent. That one atypical mole was a wake-up call for sure. Thank you for your reply.
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- July 7, 2018 at 10:37 am
I had a new spot that was checked but went through changes over about a 3 year period. The biopsy was diagnosed as nodular ulcerated metastic melanoma. Was sent to UCSF for second opinion which took the longest 5-6 wks of my life. The final diagnosis was “ a severely atypical spitzoid tumor as a posed to a definitive melanoma” the other term they used was a malignancy of unknown potentia and UW classified it and treated me for stage 2 malignant melanoma Breslow 2.2. I’m be8ng followed up every 3 months at th3 UW melanoma clinic, but I was told I don’t have melanoma. I had a WLE and sentinel lymph nodes removed. But I didn’t have melanoma. Pay close attention to your skin, don’t rely on the doctors to know, I had my mole checked 2 years prior by a nurse practitioner in a local dermatologist office because where I live dermatologist are too hard to get into and was told it was nothing to worry about and when i asked to have the actual doctor look at it she said oh the doctor won’t even look at something like that.
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Tagged: cutaneous melanoma
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