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Shave biopsy and Melanoma in situ
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Shave biopsy and Melanoma in situ

› Forums › Cutaneous Melanoma Community › Shave biopsy and Melanoma in situ

  • Post
    • April 10, 2017 at 2:37 am
    Nick19
    Participant

      Hi all. I am new here, and back in January I had a shave biopsy on suspicious mole on my back. 

      Two weeks later I got results, melanoma in situ. No depth, thickness etc given in biopsy report. 

      I had WLE with clear margins  

       Final Pathologic Diagnosis

      MELANOMA IN SITU ARISING IN A DYSPLASTIC NEVUS WITH SEVERE CYTOLOGIC ATYPIA. 

      My question. I have read few times that shave biopsy are not good if it is about melanoma. 

      How does it apply to me?  What should I think? 

      I have already spoken with two doctors in the hospital, dermatologist and melanoma specialists and they assure me it was in situ and shave biopsy was properly done with proper depth with adequate staging.

      What are your thoughts guys?

      Thank you.  Nick

    Viewing 1 reply thread
    • Replies
        • April 10, 2017 at 3:24 am
        jennunicorn
        Participant

          Shaves are fine as long as they go deep enough. Sounds like they did go deep enough with yours, and there is no depth reported since it was only in the top layer of your skin, which is what in situ means. Shaves can be troublesome when there is depth involved, because if it doesn't shave deep enough it can bisect the lesion and there is no way to know the actual full depth of a lesion when that happens. Not something you have to worry about. Glad you caught it early!

            • April 10, 2017 at 3:27 am
            jennunicorn
            Participant

              I will say, if you ever have another suspicious mole, ask them to do a punch biopsy instead, just to be safe. Plus, they heal much nicer when the biopsy comes back benign and they don't go back for a wide local excision… shave biopsies can make ugly crater-like scars.. I have one on my back from years ago when I had a benign mole biopsied.

              • April 10, 2017 at 12:41 pm
              Nick19
              Participant

                Thank you Jenn.  How do you feel? 

                • April 10, 2017 at 4:50 pm
                jennunicorn
                Participant

                  Feeling pretty good lately Nick, thanks for asking 🙂

                  • April 11, 2017 at 2:07 pm
                  Jeff_in_FL
                  Participant

                    I had a shave biopsy done, and you can clearly see remaining cells. Still waiting for the wide excision. Wondering if they could just do the math, and simply add the depth of what is remaining to what was removed.

                    • April 11, 2017 at 4:46 pm
                    jennunicorn
                    Participant

                      Unfortunately it does not work that way, they can't just add the two pieces together. But, you're getting a SLNB (sentinel lymph node biopsy) so that is good. If they were not offering the SLNB, then I would highly suggest anyone who has a bisected lesion from a shave get one.

                    • April 10, 2017 at 7:00 am
                    stars
                    Participant

                      Well no melanoma is good news, but in situ is as good as it gets – it has no metastatic potential, it's a problem that's now gone and what you really need to do now is catch any new/unrelated melanomas that might pop up (unlikely, but now that you've had one you are at risk of getting another). The shave biopsy was complete with no 'dirty' margins so you are fin. As for shaves, my view is never again – I will always from now on get proper excisional biopsies (eg a cut that is stitched up). I've had shaves and punches in the past but Australian guidelines are to do a proper excisional biopsy for suspected melanoma. I don't mind a few little scars for a proper biopsy. The problem with shaves and punches is when the biopsy is incomplete eg either the base is dissected or there is more on the sides/not removed.

                        • April 10, 2017 at 12:43 pm
                        Nick19
                        Participant

                          Thank you Stars.  I still don't understand why they do shave on the patients. 

                          Is there any time frame in my case to get another melanoma?

                          • April 10, 2017 at 9:28 pm
                          youngann
                          Participant

                            There's about a 99% chance that you'll never get another mel diagnosis 🙂

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