fleurdelis
08-04-17, 04:39
Hi all! I'm new-ish here and haven't posted much because my health anxiety was mostly under control until the past week. I've returned to my skin cancer fears, though, and I'm obsessing about one mole in particular. It's about the size of a pencil eraser--not super big, but also not small--and kind of dark brown. I have a couple of other moles/freckles that color, but most of mine are lighter. The thing that really frightens me is that I'm pretty sure it's grown over the years (actually, I'm pretty sure I didn't have it at all five or six years ago--I'm now 28).
I've had yearly skin checks the last two years and am going for one this week, but I'm just terrified that this mole is melanoma that I've had for years--i.e. it's likely already spread. I do distinctly remember asking my dermatologist to look at it last year, and he said he "wasn't worried," but he didn't use a dermascope--just eyeballed it--so I'm not particularly reassured. Any words of encouragement would be appreciated; I've spent the past couple of days crying, and none of my usual tricks for reducing anxiety are helping much.
I've had yearly skin checks the last two years and am going for one this week, but I'm just terrified that this mole is melanoma that I've had for years--i.e. it's likely already spread. I do distinctly remember asking my dermatologist to look at it last year, and he said he "wasn't worried," but he didn't use a dermascope--just eyeballed it--so I'm not particularly reassured. Any words of encouragement would be appreciated; I've spent the past couple of days crying, and none of my usual tricks for reducing anxiety are helping much.