Da
03-08-16, 23:20
I had a horrible bout of medical anxiety from about September of last year to early this year. Thought I had all sorts of things-- aneurysms, cancers, MS, etc. Genuinely thought I was dying. However I'm glad to say that those fears somehow drastically subsided and I've been nearly hypochondria-free for about half a year... until last night.
So basically, about a week ago I noticed a small mole-type protrusion on the left side of the my right leg and near the back area. It's quite small. Probably about the size of this "o". I originally thought it was a piece of dirt and tried to wipe it off but I was surprised to see that it was actually stuck to the skin. Curiosity/fear got the better of me and I googled "melanoma", "skin cancer", etc, and to my pleasure, nothing really resembled it on the internet. "Melanoma typically has irregular borders, is flat, itchy, blah blah blah" and I thought I was in the clear.
Well... to give this some context, last night me and my friend were having a lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek discussion about America vs Australia or something (he's Australian) and I made a comment about skin cancer and giant arthropods or something which prompted him to say "we just cut out Melanoma". Though he was clearly kidding, out of curiosity I searched this up to see if it was hypothetically possible and somehow stumbled across "nodular melanoma". I was sent into a state of panic that I had forgotten was possible as it literally looks IDENTICAL to the region on my leg. It's small, relatively symmetrical, somewhat hard, and blackish. The other day after taking a shower, I tried scratching it off and a small bit came off with some blood. The small area that I scratched off is fully covered again. I chalked it up as being a scab or something (before I'd learned of "nodular melanomas")
I am quite horrified. I took a picture of it with my iPhone with flash on to get a better look and I really regret it as it looks quite similar to a lot of the pictures I'm seeing and I am genuinely freaked out to the core
Now to be fair I am 18, have never had a blistering sunburn, don't have a family history, and don't use tanning beds or anything, and the leg is an uncommon place for male melanoma, so it's statistically very unlikely for me to get nodular adenomas... however this thing still seriously looks identical to a lot of the pictures I'm seeing and I genuinely have no other explanation for what it could be. It doesn't really look like a blood blister up close
Someone please reassure me or something :weep:
---------- Post added at 22:20 ---------- Previous post was at 19:23 ----------
Welp, it turned out to be absolutely nothing. Basically spent the last 5 hours coming to terms with my imminent death and it turned out to be nothing more than a stubborn little scab :doh:
So basically, about a week ago I noticed a small mole-type protrusion on the left side of the my right leg and near the back area. It's quite small. Probably about the size of this "o". I originally thought it was a piece of dirt and tried to wipe it off but I was surprised to see that it was actually stuck to the skin. Curiosity/fear got the better of me and I googled "melanoma", "skin cancer", etc, and to my pleasure, nothing really resembled it on the internet. "Melanoma typically has irregular borders, is flat, itchy, blah blah blah" and I thought I was in the clear.
Well... to give this some context, last night me and my friend were having a lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek discussion about America vs Australia or something (he's Australian) and I made a comment about skin cancer and giant arthropods or something which prompted him to say "we just cut out Melanoma". Though he was clearly kidding, out of curiosity I searched this up to see if it was hypothetically possible and somehow stumbled across "nodular melanoma". I was sent into a state of panic that I had forgotten was possible as it literally looks IDENTICAL to the region on my leg. It's small, relatively symmetrical, somewhat hard, and blackish. The other day after taking a shower, I tried scratching it off and a small bit came off with some blood. The small area that I scratched off is fully covered again. I chalked it up as being a scab or something (before I'd learned of "nodular melanomas")
I am quite horrified. I took a picture of it with my iPhone with flash on to get a better look and I really regret it as it looks quite similar to a lot of the pictures I'm seeing and I am genuinely freaked out to the core
Now to be fair I am 18, have never had a blistering sunburn, don't have a family history, and don't use tanning beds or anything, and the leg is an uncommon place for male melanoma, so it's statistically very unlikely for me to get nodular adenomas... however this thing still seriously looks identical to a lot of the pictures I'm seeing and I genuinely have no other explanation for what it could be. It doesn't really look like a blood blister up close
Someone please reassure me or something :weep:
---------- Post added at 22:20 ---------- Previous post was at 19:23 ----------
Welp, it turned out to be absolutely nothing. Basically spent the last 5 hours coming to terms with my imminent death and it turned out to be nothing more than a stubborn little scab :doh: