› Forums › General Melanoma Community › True local scar recurrence
- This topic has 7 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 8 months ago by
Tset.
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- March 17, 2022 at 12:40 pm
Hi,I was diagnosed with stage 1a in September 2021.
.4mm, clark 3, no mitosis.
Was told it was as low risk of a lesion as you could get.
Last week I noticed that some pigment was forming in the scar right below where the melanoma has been. It was not there at my last check up in January and was quite hard to notice. Dermatologist removed it and pathology came back as stage 1a recurrent melanoma. After looking more closely at the wide excision pathology report it seems that the 9 oclock side of the wide excision was only excised to .6cm. The recurrence of pigment was on the 3 o’clock side. I do not know if that matters. I am now set to have another wide excision and an SLNB.
I am extremely nervous and have been dealing with intense anxiety about this ever since the initial diagnosis. I am 34 and have two children and my biggest fear is leaving them. I was told by many doctors since the initial diagnosis that my fear was irrational and that I should move on, this would not recur, etc. It seems that, that was not the case.
I am having a hard time finding info on this particular situation. I was hoping to find other that might have had the same experience… regrowth of the primary tumor after a few months. It was not a metastasis and was mostly confined to the epidermis. So that makes me feel a bit better… but only a little.
Any advice or experience related to this situation would be appreciated.
Thank you.
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- March 18, 2022 at 1:14 am
Hi there,
Sorry for your ordeal. I don’t have information on your particular situation. I can share my experience of dealing with it. I was diagnosed as stage 1b in 02/2020. I was told the prognosis is pretty good. Wide excision was successful. Lymph nodes were clear. I kept progressing pretty fast up to stage 4 now.Just 2 years.
Don’t get fear and anxiety control your life. Try to live and enjoy every day and hope for the best. There is not much really in our control. What you can control is how you react to what’s going on with you. Get a good melanoma specialist and stay up date on treatment options.. Best wishes. Stay strong!
Daisy… -
- March 18, 2022 at 12:38 pm
Hello ! I don’t have a personal experience with true scar recurrence but from what I know it is indeed defined by recurrent radial growth very close to the previously excised melanoma. It is not considered a metastasis and restaging is initiated with WLE and sentinel lymph node biopsy. So there is no need to panic ! It is described in formal guidelines so it’s not that uncommon. If the new breslow thickness is superficial and the SLNB is negative I don’t see a reason why the prognosis should be changed ! So hang in there, we are all praying for you ! I wish all your results to be good ! Keep us updated and don’t lose your hope !-
- March 18, 2022 at 5:09 pm
Thank you so much! I appreciate your prayers so much! I am really nervous about this next surgery. The side margins on the biopsy weren’t clear and the surgery is not for 3 weeks. I am hoping that the cells do not grow deeper. I am also really nervous about the lymph node removal… I have never had surgery like that before. My dermatologist thinks it is unlikely that there will be melanoma cells found in the lymph nodes, but I still worry. My primary was .4mm, clark 3, 0 mitosis, no vascular invasion… so hopefully low risk. I will update the post after the surgery and results have been given. -
- March 18, 2022 at 5:10 pm
I am so sorry to hear that you progressed. That is always so worrying to hear. I hope that you are doing well and your treatment is successful.
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- April 6, 2022 at 8:21 pm
I’d think of it this way, barring different information from your doctor. I have had a lot of miles regrow. Mostly they stay gone. Sometimes I get bits that grow back, often unevenly. It sounds like this was not a reoccurrence per se but an incomplete removal. I would t be more worried than that.-
- April 8, 2022 at 9:32 am
Thank you! I just had my second wide excision of the entire scar yesterday, along with three lymph nodes. Hoping everything comes back clear. My doctor won’t say that it was an incomplete removal. He said it could have been an incomplete removal, a completely new melanoma, or micro cells that were left behind that couldn’t have been detected initially. I was treated as if it were true local scar recurrence which under the NCCN guidelines is persistent melanoma…. I am going to get a second opinion at MD Anderson and see what they think. I am being treated at Balboa Navy Medical Center, so… maybe they are trying to avoid litigation or something by not telling me the first surgery was done improperly? idk… It is annoying that they won’t give me an exact reason for this. But I appreciate your opinion so much. There is almost no information online about this type of recurrence, so hearing from others is very helpful. I hope you are doing well.
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- August 22, 2022 at 4:09 pm
I have had a similar situation. 8 years ago I was diagnosed with Lentigo Maligna/Melanoma in Situ. Had a wide local Excision and assumed all would be well. Went every six months for skin checks after that. Exactly 4 years later my derm removed a small spot that was right beside scar and a little bit of it was on the scar. It had been there for some years but it looked like a small freckle so nothing of concern. It came back as a recurrence of Melanoma Insitu. I didn’t understand how it could come back 4 years later as in Situ again. I figured it would be invasive. The specialist said my type can have long tentacles that need more margins cut than normal and that some cells had been left behind and grew back. I had MOHS after that since it was still insitu. Now 4 years after that I have a spot beside the scar yet again. Looks a lot lighter than the last and may not be anything but I’m having it checked out to be safe. It does happen and I found also there’s just not a lot of info on that type of situation. I hope all turned out well for you.
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