When might a raised mole be melanoma?

Posted by mrknight @mrknight, Jul 17, 2022

Can a raised mole with rough features and light and dark color be melanoma?

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@mrknight That mole is something you definitely should have checked out, and you are right to question it. That is exactly how they describe the appearance of a mole that can become cancerous. My husband had moles like that with irregular borders and variations in color. Those were moles in transition, but not yet cancerous. He had several including a large one on a toe. Most were rated severely abnormal after the biopsies.

Because I learned from what I saw on him, I had a similar mole checked out, and biopsied, and it came back as moderately abnormal. My husband actually also had one bump of melanoma on his hand that started as a spherical bump under the skin and was growing and did not come from a mole. He had ignored it a long time, and it broke through the skin and looked like a pencil eraser with a round dome and the same color. He had surgery to remove it and a skin graft. We were very lucky it had not spread.

Anything suspicious should be examined by a dermatologist, and something that is growing most definitely. My husband thought it was a wart, and that assumption could have killed him. Please don't diagnose yourself. This is a job for a trained specialist, and they are much happier telling you that something they examined is not dangerous, or that there is a risk, but you caught it in time. It's likely the doctor will recommend yearly skin checkups.

Thanks for asking this question. This is very important. Melanoma is the most dangerous of the skin cancers with a very low survival rate if it has spread, and it send roots deep where it finds bloods vessels that can spread the cancer cells.

Do you have a good dermatologist in your area?

REPLY
@jenniferhunter

@mrknight That mole is something you definitely should have checked out, and you are right to question it. That is exactly how they describe the appearance of a mole that can become cancerous. My husband had moles like that with irregular borders and variations in color. Those were moles in transition, but not yet cancerous. He had several including a large one on a toe. Most were rated severely abnormal after the biopsies.

Because I learned from what I saw on him, I had a similar mole checked out, and biopsied, and it came back as moderately abnormal. My husband actually also had one bump of melanoma on his hand that started as a spherical bump under the skin and was growing and did not come from a mole. He had ignored it a long time, and it broke through the skin and looked like a pencil eraser with a round dome and the same color. He had surgery to remove it and a skin graft. We were very lucky it had not spread.

Anything suspicious should be examined by a dermatologist, and something that is growing most definitely. My husband thought it was a wart, and that assumption could have killed him. Please don't diagnose yourself. This is a job for a trained specialist, and they are much happier telling you that something they examined is not dangerous, or that there is a risk, but you caught it in time. It's likely the doctor will recommend yearly skin checkups.

Thanks for asking this question. This is very important. Melanoma is the most dangerous of the skin cancers with a very low survival rate if it has spread, and it send roots deep where it finds bloods vessels that can spread the cancer cells.

Do you have a good dermatologist in your area?

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Thank you for your input, I am being referred to a dermatologist because my family doctor did a biopsy on a small dark mole she noticed on my leg. She said it came back positive. Pre cancerous what ever that means? I also have to get repeat blood work done. I don't remember what the numbers were but she said they were not too bad just want to make sure they don't get worse.

REPLY
@mrknight

Thank you for your input, I am being referred to a dermatologist because my family doctor did a biopsy on a small dark mole she noticed on my leg. She said it came back positive. Pre cancerous what ever that means? I also have to get repeat blood work done. I don't remember what the numbers were but she said they were not too bad just want to make sure they don't get worse.

Jump to this post

@mrknight, glad to hear your family doctor is proactive. Have you seen the dermatologist in the meantime? What was the outcome?

REPLY
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