Worried about skin cancer referral

[JxSxNG]

I've always had a big worry about skin cancer (all cancers really but skin cancer is the main one) so last week I went to get a bunch of my moles checked. Long story short I got an urgent referral to a dermatologist and I'm kind of panicked. My appointment is in 2 days. My doctor said she thought it looked fine but she was going to refer me 'just in case' and honestly I'm wishing she didn't. I know it probably isn't anything serious (there's no family history of cancer, my mole isn't crusty or oozing, I'm pretty sure it hasn't ever changed but I can't be 100% sure because it's on my groin and that's not an area you typically look at lol) but I'm still really worried. Has anyone else been through this? How can I calm myself down a bit?

[Fishmanpa]

It's called CYA medicine (Cover Your Arse). Best to back up her findings and not have you worry any longer than necessary. My wife had an odd mole and we did the same thing. All was well as I'm confident you will be too.

Positive thoughts

[NervUs]

I have had about 8 suspicious moles removed, plus other kinds of skin bumps. In the US, we don't have the mind trip of the "urgent referral" since we self-refer to dermatologists. But, having the derm say, yeah, that should come off and then you hear the differential diagnosis "mal mel" (and he's trying to abbreviate for the tech so that you don't catch on to what's going on) is NEVER fun.

EVen though I have had some funky looking moles biopsied, I have never gotten a bad diagnosis. The worst they have been is mildly atypical, even though they were blurring at the borders, multi colored, developing red rings, everything!

I read that it takes 33 biopsies to find 1 melanoma, so that means- even for people with very suspicious characteristics- the likelihood of not having a bad mole be melanoma is 97%.