Hard time trusting dermotologist, need help

[jmphipps0428]

Hey everyone. I suffer from MASSIVE health-related anxiety. Last weekend I noticed a mole in a place I never get any sun. Can't remember if I've seen it before or not. It's about 0.5 in diameter, soft, somewhat raised. I noticed a very small black/very dark blue spot right in the middle of it. I did what I should not have and googled it, so I spent the entire week terrified of melanoma. I went to the dermatologists office yesterday and he looked at it under a dermatoscope, and told me "you're fine. There's nothing to worry about here. Every fiber in my being is telling you not to worry about this." I asked him how he could be so sure and he said "I see thousands of moles every week. I looked at it under a dermatoscope with a polarized lens. It lets me see down to the cellular level. I'm telling you there's no reason for alarm, and a biopsy would be unnecessary. In fact, were I to remove it, your insurance company would likely not cover it, because it'd be purely cosmetic. Go home and get some sleep, and please STAY OFF google." He sounded SUPREMELY confident. I looked up dermatoscopes and they indeed seem to be really amazing devices which have revolutionized dermatology.

So why am I still terrified? :( Why can I not accept his diagnosis?

[NervUs]

OMG. I want that dermatologist.

I don't know how you trust, you just have to fight back when doubts creep in.

He sounds incredible though!

[jmphipps0428]

He actually was super nice, funny, confident and overall very reassuring. It's just my freaking anxiety keeping me from relaxing about it.

[.Poppy.]

Have you spoken to anyone about your anxiety? Done any therapy, considered medication, etc.?

The answer you got is really the best possible answer you could have been given - and the fact that you can't let it give you peace means your anxiety is under control. Something I'm sure you know quite well.

I, like many here, have very much been there. Medication and therapy gave me a way out. I still have bad days, but they are few and far between and far less intense than they were previously.

[sdoxo]

I see my dermatologist every 6 months to do my full body check bc I have quite a few "spots".

Every time I go see her I have multiple places I'm concerned about and always expect her to want to take them off. And most of the time she doesn't lol. Just because a mole looks suspicious, doesn't mean its malignant. Even if they were to take it off doesnt mean its sinister. I had to have surgery on a spot on the back of my leg last summer, and even THAT wasn't malignant. Just some dysplactic nevus, which I've had a few times lol.

Trust them, they know what they're looking for :)