Sorry you are worried, but as my brother in law says – Don’t bother worry! I know….any melanoma diagnosis is something to worry about. And my brother in law mixes his messages, which drives my sister crazy – but I like it. Like you must be, given the mention of the VA in your prior post, he was career military – Air Force – so – thank you for your service.
Now…to the worry. Here is a link to a break down of melanoma staging: https://www.aimatmelanoma.org/stages-of-melanoma/
Stage II would require that your lesion is deeper than 2 mm with no ulceration or 1.o1 to 2mm with ulceration.
You won’t know if you are Stage III or not, unless you determine the status of your sentinel node(s) {there may be 1-3} via a sentinel lymph node biopsy. SLNB is recommended for melanoma lesions that are 0.8mm or greater and should be done at the same time as the wide local excision. If the SLNB is postponed until after the WLE, the lymph flow will have been disrupted and finding the sentinel node will not be possible. For some stage III patients (patients for whom melanoma is found in a node, but generally not in the rest of their body) there are some adjuvant treatment options. For patients with Stage I or II disease, the odds of recurrence are fairly low and basic close follow-up should be arranged and maintained.
Hope that helps. Will keep fingers crossed that you will soon have your wide excision via MOHs along with your sentinel node biospy with no problems and the process will yield a non-ulcerated lesion measuring pretty much as you have already been advised (it may be a little deeper given you had a shave biopsy and a bit more of the lesion will be removed with the WLE – and your path report should tell you whether or not ulceration was noted) with negative SLNB.
Hope that helps. Celeste
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