Moles, moles, moles everywhere - advice from other mole sufferers?

[MarkJames3]

Hi Guys,

So every few months my mole anxiety pipes up, I have been to the doctor so many times to have moles checked out but then a month down the line i find a new mole to get me worried.

I am a person with quite a few moles although I would say 85-90% of them are under 5mm.
I have irregular ones, i have ones with slight colour differences, I have moles within moles it seems, I have raised ones, I have small dark ones. You name it I probably have it.

Doctors reassurance on particular moles always seems to help, but every time I find a new one which seems in my eyes 'dodgy" i feel panic come over and think I need to make another appointment.

I am 29 and since I was about 24 it seems I have new moles appear every week, maybe I am just more vigilant to them these days I don't know.

Just wondering if anyone else has the same situation or problems with new moles and how they overcome it instead of booking a doctors appointment every time you find a new one?

Mark

[Annie0904]

I have quite a few moles and my doctor explained to me the different types and what to look out for.

[MarkJames3]

Do you feel more relaxed now when you find new moles?

[Annie0904]

Yes I do, they don't bother me at all and I am always getting new ones. I do have one that is a bit dodgy and is being monitored for changes but I have had it about 30 years now and it hasn't changed :)

[MarkJames3]

Do you have ones that would not fit into the catergory of normal but docs have said they are fine?

[Annie0904]

Not really no, other than the one I said about. It is not 'normal' because it is not symmetrical but they have still said it is fine. They are many types of moles, I would ask your doctor to explain them to you for reassurance.

[MarkJames3]

Ah that's my point though haha, many times doctors have told me what to look for, the last doc I saw who was the skin specialist within the surgery and he explained to look for obvious changes in a mole over a short period of time like if it starts going black etc

But my point is I just can't get over the barrier of panicking everytime I find one that doesn't fit into the normal characteristics but is more than likely fine... If that makes sense haha

[Annie0904]

Stop looking for them! Really the chances of them being anything serious especially in this country are VERY low.

[Rosie2]

I am exactly the same. I actually really freaked out when I saw a skin cancer thing on TV as it said risk factors are pale skin, light hair, light eyes (blue), and burning in childhood - I have every single one! I downloaded a molechecker app (yes it exists! LOL) and took a photo of every mole, turns out I literally have about 50 or 60.. probably more. Some are darker, some are lighter, some are tiny, some are a funny shape, some stick out.. I had one biopsied that I was worried about because the shape was really weird and it came back fine. So it's pretty unlikely it would be anything dodgey - especially in the UK. x:hugs:

[MarkJames3]

I wonder if its one of those things that because we are so fixated on it, we think its a lot more common than it actually is and moles that look funny but completely harmless are dodgy to us.

The funniest thing I find with myself is this... now any mole i see i have to check it throughly and be completely satisfied that its not dodgy... however before all my anxiety started about 6 years ago I went to the doc and casually mentioned I had a few moles, he checked them and found one he said he wanted to take off and at the time it didn't bother me in the slightest, I didn't even ring up for the results (it was all clear I later found out) but it just baffles me how in that situation before my anxiety hit i could be so blazey about it where as now I would be completely freaking out.

The mind is a strange thing!!

[Limas]

I had melanoma. The mole was speckled and shaped very oddly. I am also very molely and have new ones appear frequently. I knew this one was bad - it was so different than the rest. I get checked every three months now. I do not inspect my body more than casually. I found one today that was irregular and had it removed for biopsy. But the doc thinks it's fine. Get checked regularly and you will catch it early and be fine. Don't check every day!!!