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That's awesome! Self skin awareness is key.

I also had a WLE on my lower left calf, similar size – with the "shark bite" down to the  fascia.  You will be amazed at how well it will heal.  I am three years down the road from where you are now and the indent is barely noticeable and the scar a very faint small line.    I took serial pictures of the wound so I could document the healing process – pretty cool.  Just take it easy and do your wound care daily for the best results – you will be thankful later!  Yikes about the formaldehyde!!!

First of all, please don't get ahead of yourself.  Melanoma is still relatively rare and your mole is stastically likely to be something else and benign.  Don't torture yourself with ideas before you even know.  And let me just say if you have doctors who don't explain themselves when they perform invasive procedures – no matter what they are – you need to find  new ones as this has clearly left you  distressed.  All of us here are touched by melanoma in some way and at some level – many of us are parents and have gone through the kind of anxiety you are experiencing so we understand.  That said, odds are in your favor – so just wait for your biopsy results knowing that!  Either way, you have a large and supportive community here to help – good luck and keeping fingers crossed that your results will OK.

So my dermatologist recommended a daily moisturizer with SPF 50.  Neutrogena dailywear healthy skin SPF 50 goes well under foundation.  Has no fragrance.  The other one I like is Oil of Olay SPF 50 – have only found that on Amazon though.  Has a light fragrance but is also good under foundation.

This may sound weird, but congratulations to you for advocating for yourself and finding your amelanotic melanoma at an early stage.  Melanoma is a terrifying discovery, but you are so lucky that you found it when you did!  It sounds like you will probably *just* have a WLE and that will most likely be the end of your melanoma journey, statistically speaking.  I know many on this board who have had early stage and  amelanotic melanoma will probably weigh in on this, but for me, the first months after diagnosis were the most difficult.  As time goes on, your initial fears should subside, but remain diligent with your check ups and self-checks and the odds will be in your favor.  Good luck with your WLE!

This may sound weird, but congratulations to you for advocating for yourself and finding your amelanotic melanoma at an early stage.  Melanoma is a terrifying discovery, but you are so lucky that you found it when you did!  It sounds like you will probably *just* have a WLE and that will most likely be the end of your melanoma journey, statistically speaking.  I know many on this board who have had early stage and  amelanotic melanoma will probably weigh in on this, but for me, the first months after diagnosis were the most difficult.  As time goes on, your initial fears should subside, but remain diligent with your check ups and self-checks and the odds will be in your favor.  Good luck with your WLE!

This may sound weird, but congratulations to you for advocating for yourself and finding your amelanotic melanoma at an early stage.  Melanoma is a terrifying discovery, but you are so lucky that you found it when you did!  It sounds like you will probably *just* have a WLE and that will most likely be the end of your melanoma journey, statistically speaking.  I know many on this board who have had early stage and  amelanotic melanoma will probably weigh in on this, but for me, the first months after diagnosis were the most difficult.  As time goes on, your initial fears should subside, but remain diligent with your check ups and self-checks and the odds will be in your favor.  Good luck with your WLE!

Janner is correct.  I had a Stage 0 with clean margins and the standard of care is still a 1 cm WLE in all directions.  It is not about the doctor, it is insurance so that you (hopefully) never have to worry about melanoma again.

So I had what turned out to be a melanoma in situ removed from my left calf by my "regular" dermatologist.  The biopsy was then read by a dermatopathologist.  I opted to go to a major university cancer center to be further evaluated and have the removal done  by dermatologists who deal with melanoma every single day.  The university dermatopathologist re-read the path sample and happened to agree with the first dermatopathologist.  However, I was advised that there can be over-reads and under-reads on the path by as much as 10-15%  so I was very relieved that the second read wasn't worse than the first one!  I just felt more comfortable having my WLE done by dermatologic surgeons who had done many, many of them.  They know the tricks to get you a good aesthetic result, as well as get rid of all the bad cells.  I just had local sedation for the WLE – no other sedation was even offered or discussed!  They put about 10 lidocaine shots in, but that was it.  In any case, if there is any question about your path results, I suggest getting another read on them just so everyone is in agreement about what is indicated for next steps.  Good luck!

My melanoma in situ was on my left lateral calf.  My WLE was performed by a dermatologist at a major medical center/melanoma center of excellence. I had the recommended excision of 5 mm in each direction down to muscle fascia and have had zero problems with function or loss of sensation on the skin level.  There is a light faded scar now, after 2 years.  I am a very active person – alpine skiing, coaching and racing, jogging, and I have to keep up with my two young boys!  I would look for a surgeon or dermatologist with a ton of experience in removing skin lesions like yours.  You can ask them about complications, but I think you will find that this operation is fairly bread and butter stuff to them unless a flap or skiin graft is necessary. Also, follow recovery recommendations – you will probably find the dialed-down activity for a bit to be the most frustrating part!

Hi!  I am a mom of two little boys who had a melanoma in situ removed 2 years ago.  I found it myself and I was absolutely terrified, especially after I went online and Googled myself into a frenzy!  I got some amazing advice from Charlie S. on this board, who doesn't hold back with the straight talk.  He advised me to consider this a "shot across the bow" and get on with my life and just LIVE it.  Be sun-conscious, wear sunscreen, keep your dermatology appointments and be proactive with self-exams.  You have an amazing amount of control over this when you think about it and now that you have had "only" an in situ, you will be especially aware of skin changes and can catch things early.  Us stage 0 people are incredibly lucky to have been diagnosed early – be grateful for this, as shocking as the diagnosis is – as the chance for metastasis is virtually nil.  I am finding as time goes by, my anxiety level has faded, much like my WLE scar.  I think you will find this to be true as well!  Good luck managing your emotions – it IS hard, but you can do it!

I had a thin melanoma (Stage 0) in February 2015.  At every visit since then (every six months), I have had my lymph nodes palpated by the dermatologists who see me (this is at a major university skin cancer clinic).  They also taught me how to do it for myself at home.  I pay particular attention to the lymph node basin closest to my lesion.

I had a thin melanoma (Stage 0) in February 2015.  At every visit since then (every six months), I have had my lymph nodes palpated by the dermatologists who see me (this is at a major university skin cancer clinic).  They also taught me how to do it for myself at home.  I pay particular attention to the lymph node basin closest to my lesion.

The "standard of care" on MIS is 5 mm around the lesion.  Since your lesion apparently extends to the margins obtained from your biopsy, you should have  a 5 mm margin taken beyond that in all directions (including down to muscle fascia). As to your question about whether this is "usual" or not, I don't know specifically how often that happens, but if your original shave biopsy was small, then I could see how that could happen pretty easily.  If more abnormal cells are found in the WLE sample, they may have to take more to get proper margins – you won't know until path comes back from that (yes, more waiting, not fun).   The WLE results in a rather large scar (if they haven't told you how big it will be yet) – which is a little surprising for such a small mole!  My dermatologist at the University center explained that it would be a football-shaped (or ellipse-shaped) section removed, so they can approximate the cut edges of the WLE more easily and reduce tension on it and the suture line.  My scar was about 3.5 inches long for a pretty typical-sized mole (4 mm).   Depending on where your lesion was, you should have a pretty good cosmetic result – mine is two years "old" now and you can barely see it on my leg.  Just enough there to remind me not to take anything for granted and to stay out of the sun!  Good luck – let us know how it goes.

Same here. I had a mole on my left calf that had been there for some time, but I noticed it seemed "different" – and I couldn't tell when that happened.  It did stand out as an ugly duckling and did not look like any other on my body – though it really wasn't that big or dark..  It was mottled though.  I went to the derm who told me he was "not impressed" and it would leave a scar if it were to be removed.  I insisted it be removed because it was in a place I didn't see every day and because it just bugged me.  Was a MIS.  Trust your gut, get checked – you have to be the agent of change.  This is a burden – being the captain of your health ship – and it is hard to reconcile that you don't have the medical training of  a derm, yet you are ultimately the one in charge!   We are very lucky people to have found these early.  Good luck with your WLE.