scared it's skin cancer

[TBPowa]

hello, i suffer from really bad anxiety, mostly related to health, and i also might have an obsessive disorder. i have a therapist that i visit every two weeks and i have no medication. i've been working on my anxiety since september and things were going well, but lately everything spiraled down to the beginning. my health anxiety often comes in phases, and this time the worry of the moment is: melanoma. i don't think i have any history of it in my family and i've never always been an outside girl haha. plus i'm not all that fair skinned and i don't have a lot of moles so i don't think i have a lot of chances to have melanoma. but that doesn't stop my brain apparently.

three weeks ago, i've found a lump in my eyelid. it is rather hard, it's situated in the middle of my upper lid, it is really small; we can't even see it on my lid, it hurts but it's not swollen and it keeps changing sizes; sometimes it's as small as a sand particule and other times it feel much bigger than that. i was a little worried about it at first but i thought it couldn't be something bad... and then i did something that i didn't do in a long time: i googled it. oh, why did i do that!
i've found out that some people have had skin cancers on their eyelid and it showed up as a bump. so now i'm convinced that this bump is a skin cancer and that i'm going to die. i asked my mom what it could be and she told me it was a stye, my dad said it was nothing, and the school nurse (who is kind enough to let me see her every time i have health worries) said it was probably just a skin pimple (i have no idea what it's called in english haha). since they all give me different answers, i'm even more panicked that before. it could be a chalazion, but apparently the first days the kid is swollen and it is only supposed to hurt for one or two days. i would absolutely love to get a doctor's appointment but my parents don't think it's necessary and i can't get one myself since i'm a minor. i'm absolutely terrified. can anybody reassure me please?

[Mikiuslorenzo]

Hi TBPowa,

You don't have melanoma! What you do have and you seem to fully recognise is a bad case of health anxiety.

Avoid Google at all costs!

When I was was in my teens / early twenties I had a few health worries but fortunately mobile internet wasn't available. If it was I imagine it would have been a nightmare for me. None of the things I was concerned about ever turned into anything by the way.

Please listen to your parents and nurse. They are not worried at all and neither should you be.

[TBPowa]

Hi TBPowa,

You don't have melanoma! What you do have and you seem to fully recognise is a bad case of health anxiety.

Avoid Google at all costs!

When I was was in my teens / early twenties I had a few health worries but fortunately mobile internet wasn't available. If it was I imagine it would have been a nightmare for me. None of the things I was concerned about ever turned into anything by the way.

Please listen to your parents and nurse. They are not worried at all and neither should you be.

ahh thank you very much! i'm sometimes able to reassure myself; i mean if it always changes sizes, sometimes multiple times a day, it must not be some sort of skin cancer! but sometimes the stress is too much! i'm gonna go see a doctor only in late summer, so i have some time to notice any changes or something

---------- Post added at 20:38 ---------- Previous post was at 20:09 ----------

what terrifies me the most is that it doesn't match the definition of a stye or a chalazion, so that seriously makes me panic. i was starting to feel better about it, but then it started to get really painful and i'm having trouble calming down... i just really want to know what it is...

[Fishmanpa]

This is why reassurance doesn't work. You got a great reassuring answer, felt Ok for a few hours and it's back :(

Based on your post, I take it you're young. Listen to your parents and school nurse. I'm sure you're fine :)

Positive thoughts

[TBPowa]

my dad checked under my eyelid and there's absolutely nothing though he can feel it when he touches it. so my mind is going straight to basal skin cancer or whatever it's called but well he told me that my nurse has a higher chance of being right since well skin tags (i finally found what it was in english yaay) can apparently grow anywhere, even under the lid, so i'm a little more reassured
and little bonus: sometimes i can feel my heartbeat in or against the lump??? i may be a little too aware but i wanted to also point that out

[Mikiuslorenzo]

This is why reassurance doesn't work. You got a great reassuring answer, felt Ok for a few hours and it's back :(

This is solid reasoning and if you can grasp it when you are young then all the better :)

Coping with anxiety you have to use the rule of opposites, for example when you learn to ski down a mountain the natural response is to lean backwards but in reality you gain more control by leaning forward down the mountain.

Seeking reassurance is similar. In the long term it really doesn't help at all.

[GlassPinata]

hello, i suffer from really bad anxiety, mostly related to health, and i also might have an obsessive disorder. i have a therapist that i visit every two weeks and i have no medication. i've been working on my anxiety since september and things were going well, but lately everything spiraled down to the beginning. my health anxiety often comes in phases, and this time the worry of the moment is: melanoma. i don't think i have any history of it in my family and i've never always been an outside girl haha. plus i'm not all that fair skinned and i don't have a lot of moles so i don't think i have a lot of chances to have melanoma. but that doesn't stop my brain apparently.

three weeks ago, i've found a lump in my eyelid. it is rather hard, it's situated in the middle of my upper lid, it is really small; we can't even see it on my lid, it hurts but it's not swollen and it keeps changing sizes; sometimes it's as small as a sand particule and other times it feel much bigger than that. i was a little worried about it at first but i thought it couldn't be something bad... and then i did something that i didn't do in a long time: i googled it. oh, why did i do that!
i've found out that some people have had skin cancers on their eyelid and it showed up as a bump. so now i'm convinced that this bump is a skin cancer and that i'm going to die. i asked my mom what it could be and she told me it was a stye, my dad said it was nothing, and the school nurse (who is kind enough to let me see her every time i have health worries) said it was probably just a skin pimple (i have no idea what it's called in english haha). since they all give me different answers, i'm even more panicked that before. it could be a chalazion, but apparently the first days the kid is swollen and it is only supposed to hurt for one or two days. i would absolutely love to get a doctor's appointment but my parents don't think it's necessary and i can't get one myself since i'm a minor. i'm absolutely terrified. can anybody reassure me please?


The lump in your eyelid sounds like a chalazion cyst.
I had one last year, and had a minor surgical procedure to remove it (they basically popped and drained it). I had this done for cosmetic reasons; chalazions are not dangerous, but I felt mine was unsightly.
They basically gave me a numbing shot in the eyelid, flipped my eyelid inside out, and made a slight nick with a scalpel in the underside, and all the pus drained out of the cyst. It was painless, except for the numbing shot, and I went straight to work afterward.
If yours is not a chalazion, then it's a stye, and will go away on its own (as will a chalazion, but it can take months, and they can get pretty big).
It is not skin cancer, as skin cancer does not present as a lump in your eyelid.
But of course, I worried that mine was cancer too. :(
Google "lump in eyelid" and (miraculously) the word "cancer" does not pop up. "Chalazion" and "stye" pop up, because that's pretty much the differential diagnosis for a lump in your eyelid.
My chalazion cyst always hurt when I pressed on it, and sometimes when I didn't. And I had it for a few months before I had it drained.
You could try hot compresses; sometimes that will help a chalazion rupture on its own... the doctor who treated mine said mine was very close to rupturing and draining on its own, probably only days away (I'd been using hot compresses).

Best wishes.

PS if you really want a doctor's appointment, tell your parents that it hurts and/or is effecting your vision.

[TBPowa]

thank you very much for all of your answers! they helped me a lot and i'm already starting to feel better. i've been having a pretty hard time with anxiety since last month, and started to act exactly like before i went to a therapist and it's making me mad. but i think it's part of the whole ordeal. ill keep working to take control over my health anxiety!

[TBPowa]

but i also have a little question: is it normal for it to become bigger? it's starting to slowly appear on my lid :/