sleepingbeauty23
06-01-16, 12:46
Hi all,
I haven't posted on here much before, but I often read the forums and feel they provide a great deal of support for those like myself who suffer high levels of anxiety.
I myself suffer from or have suffered from health anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder.
My current issue is I have had what I thought was a mole just behind my right shoulder for the last 4 or 5 years at least.
I have never paid a great deal of attention to it, but recently noticed that it had a darker brown centre surrounded by a lighter brown. It didn't look bad per se, but I thought it best to get it checked out anyway. I'm a fair skinned, 28 year old female and I have had the occasional sunburn throughout my life at different times, but don't spend a great deal of time in the sun.
I have a few moles and spots on my body anyway, so went to the skin clinic today (never been to this particular clinic before) and had a full body check. The doctor looked at my moles under a Dermascope, spending only a second or two on each one, and said that the one I was concerned about was a seborrheic keratosis and they do change colour and grow, just not as quickly as skin cancers and are completely benign.
I then had an appointment at my GP this afternoon for a completely unrelated matter, but got her to have to a look at it as well. She seemed to think that in fact it WAS a mole but didn't look suspicious for cancer and she decided to freeze it off using liquid nitrogen then and there.
I'm just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience? I'm not sure which doctor is correct and I'm hoping that it is benign and it doesn't matter if it has been frozen off. If it was a skin cancer (my fear is melanoma) I'm presuming it will grow back? I have to go back to my GP in a month's time so she can check how it has healed and whether it needs another dose of liquid nitrogen. If anyone could provide some words of wisdom or comfort it would be much appreciated.
P.S. Hoping this doesn't violate any rules, but if anyone would like to see what it looked like, I have uploaded 2 images attached.
I haven't posted on here much before, but I often read the forums and feel they provide a great deal of support for those like myself who suffer high levels of anxiety.
I myself suffer from or have suffered from health anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder.
My current issue is I have had what I thought was a mole just behind my right shoulder for the last 4 or 5 years at least.
I have never paid a great deal of attention to it, but recently noticed that it had a darker brown centre surrounded by a lighter brown. It didn't look bad per se, but I thought it best to get it checked out anyway. I'm a fair skinned, 28 year old female and I have had the occasional sunburn throughout my life at different times, but don't spend a great deal of time in the sun.
I have a few moles and spots on my body anyway, so went to the skin clinic today (never been to this particular clinic before) and had a full body check. The doctor looked at my moles under a Dermascope, spending only a second or two on each one, and said that the one I was concerned about was a seborrheic keratosis and they do change colour and grow, just not as quickly as skin cancers and are completely benign.
I then had an appointment at my GP this afternoon for a completely unrelated matter, but got her to have to a look at it as well. She seemed to think that in fact it WAS a mole but didn't look suspicious for cancer and she decided to freeze it off using liquid nitrogen then and there.
I'm just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience? I'm not sure which doctor is correct and I'm hoping that it is benign and it doesn't matter if it has been frozen off. If it was a skin cancer (my fear is melanoma) I'm presuming it will grow back? I have to go back to my GP in a month's time so she can check how it has healed and whether it needs another dose of liquid nitrogen. If anyone could provide some words of wisdom or comfort it would be much appreciated.
P.S. Hoping this doesn't violate any rules, but if anyone would like to see what it looked like, I have uploaded 2 images attached.