Followed up on red patch need advice- skin trigger

[christy67]

So I had a red patch on my forehead and nodule near my ear and got into the derm. The red patch was precancerous and it was frozen off. She told me the red spot will now probably be there forever which bummed me out. She wasn't sure what the nodule was so she biopsied it so I have to wait over week to find out.

So, do I feel better "no". I haven't had a skin check in about 6 years and I a have suspicious mole on my back and now just hearing the word cancerous even if it starts with Pre has put in a tailspin thinking the worst. I can' t get in for another month. So now I time to obsess about it.

Has anyone ever had a suspicious mole that visually met the dangerous criteria yet come back benign? If so your stories would be so appreciated.

No sure about this derm, her assistant couldn't hide the horrified and judgmental look on her face when I told her that I had many blistering burns as a teenager. Back then we didn't know. Basically I was told the damage to my skin has been done and nothing to do but stay out of the sun. UGH

Of course because I have health anxiety I am convincing myself of the worst.

[budgie1979]

Sorry you had a not so great visit to the derm and are dealing with this anxiety now. At least you are taking action now and doing whatever you can.



No sure about this derm, her assistant couldn't hide the horrified and judgmental look on her face when I told her that I had many blistering burns as a teenager. Back then we didn't know. Basically I was told the damage to my skin has been done and nothing to do but stay out of the sun. UGH


Yeah, I have had this treatment in the past and it's not helpful. We really didn't know how bad sunburns were when I was a kid. We always did the "burn once and then you don't have to worry about it the rest of the summer" thing. My husband still thinks it's healthy to get a "base tan". :lac: Nothing to be done about it now except wear sunscreen and get professionally checked at recommended intervals.

[Fishmanpa]

Like I said in your previous post. At this point you're putting the caboose in front of the locomotive. I get it that your anxiety does this. I'm not a sufferer but still, I was pretty stressed out when I was going through it. With the symptom(s) I was having and the exams, the doctors were straight forward and braced me for what they thought the tests would say. It was still very difficult even though I was fully expecting it. It's different with you. The medical professionals don't think it's cancer and are just practicing CYA medicine. I would have grabbed onto that with both hands! Let's be honest here... If they brushed you off and didn't test, you'd be worrying just as much they missed something! ;)

Frankly, I dealt with it with medicinal remedies and as much distraction as I could find. I was still in my performing season and had several gigs during that time. The music and performing was my outlet. It was that way then and still is in dealing with my wife's illness and aftermath.

So if you have a passion, be it music, crafts, exercise or hiking etc. Engage yourself and allow it to take your mind off things. A chill pill as needed ain't half bad either :shades:

Positive thoughts

[Sixpack]

Last year was the first time I had been to a derm in 19yrs. I had a mole on my neck removed in '97. I went last year to have a precancerous spot on my hand frozen off for the third time (my primary did it the previous two times). I just saw the derm for this year's annual two weeks ago. I told the derm last year and the PA this year that 'sunscreen' back in my childhood was-- "hey, you look like you are burning, put on a shirt." I spent much of my summers with sunburns, many blistering. Which, frankly, hurt like hell. A common 'activity' as kids was to peel skin off our backs from healed up sunburns. Yeah sounds gross and today we'd all be horrified to do such things. However that was the times. At any rate my back has all kinds of sunspots on them. When I told the doc and PA of my history, there were no horrified looks only a giggle as to how i described my 'sunscreen' back in the 70's. I was told that i have more of a risk of skin cancer and just keep a check on it with annual screenings. So, yeah, since I was FINALLY able to get into a derm, I'll do the annual thing and not fret over things that happened 35+ years ago. Can't do a damned thing about it now anyway. Since There is no fretting about skin, my mind can choose another thing to worry about ;). My fave worry is about my eldest daughter who is disabled. No matter what the worry, it is a pointless thing to do as well.

[NervUs]

Yes, Christy, I have had moles with very suspicious characteristics that came back with atypia. IME, the derms always have differential diagnoses for the moles that end up biopsied, and I had more than one with MM as one of the diagnoses. But, all came back atypia, all mild.

I know melanoma worries are the effing worst, and a month is a long time to wait. I would call to get on the cancellation list and also DON'T GOOGLE. Doing that makes it so much worse. You know that, but...

[christy67]

Thank for your replies! All of your thoughts have been helpful in easing my anxiety.

NerVus you "get it". You are my new skin cancer worrier soul sister! It's the frickin worst. I'm not sure what I am going to do about the wait list. I think my first task is to wait for the biopsy and get through that. The wait list time might give me time to take a break and manage my anxiety about it, pending the biopsy results. If that comes back positive than I will be at the derms front door!

In terms of my forehead I am glad it was caught early. I just hope I can get the damage to heal from the procedure. At the risk of sounding vain I hate that it is on my face. Despite all the sun damage I've endured most of it appears on my body. I was surprised when it popped up on my face as I haven't sunned in years and wear 50 sunscreen winter and summer. Oh well..I'm still alive folks lol

I'll keep you posted. Thanks so much for much for your feedback!

Hugs to everyone.