So I was, am, doing well - freckles.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yeah, I've got a couple of odd shaped ones. Had them since birth. And I've done sunbeds in my early twenties and still no change.

Oh, they are always dreaming up a new disease. We will have Internet something next.

That is so annoying, it happened to me. In my case it was my GP surgery not sending on the referral. So, it took 3 appointments with my GP to chase it up. Then they were pretty swift in starting the Guided Self Help.

[helenhoo]

One was self referral and the last one was a nurse. My most recent appointment was put through by a nurse who reassured me a lot (yet here I am). She was my age, and covered in freckles; 10x more than me! She said she'd never know if she got a new one. She had the variety on her skin even the freckles in freckles. I got an eye roll from her but playfully. I was fine for a good few weeks actually then I thought when on chest had changed (it hadn't) and I was triggered again. I'm not worried about in particular though just all or any of them.

[Captain irrational]

I'm literally covered in freckles and moles of all different shapes and sizes (that's what Irish and Scottish genetics will do for you). So are nearly all of my extended family on both sides, and none of them have ever had any kind of skin cancer, let alone melanoma.

I'm fairly good at not obssessing over my moles these days. I give my body a quick look over once in while just to make sure nothing too strange is going on, but I will not allow myself to get into the habit of constantly checking every inch of my skin every day. It's pointless, it puts you deeper into an anxious state and just wastes time I could be spending living my life. The way I see it, melanoma is rare anyway, but if I was unfortunate enough to get it, I think it would be quite easy to tell the difference between a malignant mole and a normal mole. Yes I know you can always find scare stories online of people who had an innocent looking mole that turned out to be melanoma, but these are exceptional cases. The vast majority of the time, melanoma is very obvious and unmistakable.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Well you've not been on here anywhere near as much as before so that surely says something? That's a positive.

Part of working through all this will always be about reasonable expectations so we don't put too much pressure on ourselves. Until you've gained more ground, you are bound to slip, we all did (and still do).

[Noivous]

I'm literally covered in freckles and moles of all different shapes and sizes (that's what Irish and Scottish genetics will do for you). So are nearly all of my extended family on both sides, and none of them have ever had any kind of skin cancer, let alone melanoma.

I'm fairly good at not obssessing over my moles these days. I give my body a quick look over once in while just to make sure nothing too strange is going on, but I will not allow myself to get into the habit of constantly checking every inch of my skin every day. It's pointless, it puts you deeper into an anxious state and just wastes time I could be spending living my life. The way I see it, melanoma is rare anyway, but if I was unfortunate enough to get it, I think it would be quite easy to tell the difference between a malignant mole and a normal mole. Yes I know you can always find scare stories online of people who had an innocent looking mole that turned out to be melanoma, but these are exceptional cases. The vast majority of the time, melanoma is very obvious and unmistakable.

Excellent post, Captain! Good advice.


N.

[DrG00GLE]

I have sort of the same thing as you. My doctor said I had freckles in my eyes and trust me I got really scared. But now that I read off the internet and did lots of research, I'm not so scared anymore. Chance of a freckle turning into melanoma is like having a bowl of marbles, and every year pulling a marble out of 8000 of them. Pretty rare. Even if you are diagnosed, melanoma is super easy to beat. Most of the time the ones that are deadly are big or were never treated until they spread. As long as you are up to date with your dermatologist every year, you're fine. It takes around a year or two for them to become bad.

Edit: I read somewhere the chances of it turning into something bad were like 5 or 6 in a million. Crazy low. Go try the lottery before you get worried about your freckles.