I keep finding new moles and it's basically freaking me out

[SW_Pat]

Hey guys. One of my recurring fears is melanoma. I recently got a mole that was freaking me out biopsied and it turned out normal. But I feel like I keep finding new ones that were almost surely not there before. I think there's more on my arms than there used to be, my face, my body in general really. I just found one on top of my ear that I could've sworn I've never seen before. I'm not super white or fair haired. I have dark hair and just an average skin tone. I'm not very much in the sun. I just feel like I'm getting overwhelmed by this. I'm worried that either I'm getting lots of new ones and one will turn out to be melanoma, or that there's just so many that I can't keep track of them and when I catch a weird one it will be too late. Anyone have experience with this?

[Nyla]

Yup! I used to be so mole obsessed after learning about Melanoma at University. I do still check my moles but not on a regular basis. It IS good to check moles for changes but not so much it consumes you. The "bad" moles will almost always have more than one issue like asymmetry or being more than 5MM in length and will have more than one colour,more than likely more than two colours. If any of your moles have a hair follicle then you can discount them from your worry list as they will not turn. The "bad" moles will also usually be so different form any other mole,they will stand out. I remember being told if i had a mole I was worried about and had another that was the same then they are probably nothing to worry about and they weren't. The other thing to remind yourself is that if you did have a mole that was a bit wonky and you really did think it had multiple changes or reasons to worry then you aren't going to become instantly ill,cell changes don't happen over night. I worked with a doctor who had a large scabby bleeding mole at the back of her arm,it was actually another Doctor who happen to be behind her at the time who saw it and asked her to go see them about the mole. She had noticed that it wasn't right,it was bleeding,itching and the skin around it was very try…it just didn't heal. Even after leaving it for a while before having it removed she was fine and that was a bad one! Knowing this helped me,I think generally you would just know if you had any that were really concerning. I hope this helps :)