[Anonymous]

Hi! I went to my GP about a large mole with irregular edges on my back. Over the past 5 months it seems to have been growing although it's difficult for me to say how much because I can't really see my back. Anyway, the GP has referred me to a skin cancer clinic and now I'm ****ting myself scared. He told me not to worry as if it was skin cancer it would double in size in a week which it definitely hasn't, but I can't help worrying. What will happen at this clinic? Does anyone have experience with this?

[Sovix]

(Original post by Anonymous)
Hi! I went to my GP about a large mole with irregular edges on my back. Over the past 5 months it seems to have been growing although it's difficult for me to say how much because I can't really see my back. Anyway, the GP has referred me to a skin cancer clinic and now I'm ****ting myself scared. He told me not to worry as if it was skin cancer it would double in size in a week which it definitely hasn't, but I can't help worrying. What will happen at this clinic? Does anyone have experience with this?

dont be worried.... moles always grow, youll be fine.. If it was a skin cancer, i think you would have noticed a lot of changes to your skin in different parts of your body.

[MutantGecko]

(Original post by Anonymous)
Hi! I went to my GP about a large mole with irregular edges on my back. Over the past 5 months it seems to have been growing although it's difficult for me to say how much because I can't really see my back. Anyway, the GP has referred me to a skin cancer clinic and now I'm ****ting myself scared. He told me not to worry as if it was skin cancer it would double in size in a week which it definitely hasn't, but I can't help worrying. What will happen at this clinic? Does anyone have experience with this?

i doubt its actually a 'skin cancer' clinic, its probably for all kinds of issues with moles / growths.

my brother had a mole that changed and went all red and weird. got it removed, they tested the skin around the mole for irregularities and it was fine. that was it.

[Historophilia]

You always have to be careful with moles but I doubt you've actually got skin cancer.

They will probably check them and test to see if they have the potential to one day become malignant in which case you will end up having them removed.

It's a case of better safe than sorry though I can understand why you're nervous I would be!

[Anonymous]

(Original post by Anonymous)
Hi! I went to my GP about a large mole with irregular edges on my back. Over the past 5 months it seems to have been growing although it's difficult for me to say how much because I can't really see my back. Anyway, the GP has referred me to a skin cancer clinic and now I'm ****ting myself scared. He told me not to worry as if it was skin cancer it would double in size in a week which it definitely hasn't, but I can't help worrying. What will happen at this clinic? Does anyone have experience with this?

Hey, this happened to me 2 weeks ago, my mole looked really dodgy, they booked me an urgent appointment, said I would have the appointment within 2 weeks, actually only took 2 days!
The appointment was fine, the doctor looked at my mole and said that she could not tell whether it was cancerous or not so I had removed at the same appointment, it doesn't hurt, done with local anesthetic.
So they're sending the mole to be tested, it's been 2 weeks now, they said it would take 2 weeks so I should be back getting my results any day.
I'm pretty scared too, but just stay positive and even if they don't think it is cancerous, ask them to remove it anyway! Hope things go ok for you.

[Anonymous]

(Original post by Historophilia)
You always have to be careful with moles but I doubt you've actually got skin cancer.

They will probably check them and test to see if they have the potential to one day become malignant in which case you will end up having them removed.

It's a case of better safe than sorry though I can understand why you're nervous I would be!

I have very pale skin, with freckles and light hair and I've been sunburnt in the past which is why I'm worried it might be cancerous, I shouldn't have put it off so long really.

Do you know if it hurts to have moles removed? I have so many, maybe about 50 on my body in total, just this is the only one which seems to have changed.

[Anonymous]

(Original post by Anonymous)
Hey, this happened to me 2 weeks ago, my mole looked really dodgy, they booked me an urgent appointment, said I would have the appointment within 2 weeks, actually only took 2 days!
The appointment was fine, the doctor looked at my mole and said that she could not tell whether it was cancerous or not so I had removed at the same appointment, it doesn't hurt, done with local anesthetic.
So they're sending the mole to be tested, it's been 2 weeks now, they said it would take 2 weeks so I should be back getting my results any day.
I'm pretty scared too, but just stay positive and even if they don't think it is cancerous, ask them to remove it anyway! Hope things go ok for you.

Oh wow, I didn't know they could remove it that fast, that's really good! Good luck to you too, I hope it comes back all clear for you.

I was told I'd get an appointment within 2 weeks as well, it's good to hear you didn't have to wait long at all. Do you have more than one mole on you and did they take a look at the other ones when you were getting the dodgy one checked out? How do they remove it exactly?

[Historophilia]

(Original post by Anonymous)
I have very pale skin, with freckles and light hair and I've been sunburnt in the past which is why I'm worried it might be cancerous, I shouldn't have put it off so long really.

Do you know if it hurts to have moles removed? I have so many, maybe about 50 on my body in total, just this is the only one which seems to have changed.

It takes more than being sunburnt a couple of times to develop sin caner, don't worry , otherwise everyone would get it!

I don't know if it hurts, I imagine that they'll numb the area so you can't feel it. I don't know what they'd do if you have loads and loads but they won't do it without pain relief don't worry.

[Anonymous]

(Original post by Anonymous)
Oh wow, I didn't know they could remove it that fast, that's really good! Good luck to you too, I hope it comes back all clear for you.

I was told I'd get an appointment within 2 weeks as well, it's good to hear you didn't have to wait long at all. Do you have more than one mole on you and did they take a look at the other ones when you were getting the dodgy one checked out? How do they remove it exactly?

Just saw your post about having fair skin & freckles - me too! I always burn, never tan so i'm very careful with my skin, but if it does happen to be cancerous all I can think of is it coming from getting sunburnt as a child.
Yeah I was really impressed how fast they were! Did your doctor let you know if it was an urgent appointment or not? As I think the urgent ones, they get you the first appointment avaliable in any local hospital, so I had to go a bit further than my closest hospital. You'll probably see a dermatologist btw.
I was checked at the doctors appointment (before being reffered) for any other moles, weirdly enough the one I had removed was the only mole I had! The rest are freckles.
How they removed it was, they gave me 3 injections around the mole of anesthetic (the first one stung a tinyyy bit - but the other two were fine, probably the anestethic had kicked in) then they just cut it off (I didn't watch haha) and gave me about 4 stitches, didn't hurt a bit! Then you just have to keep it clean and put vaseline on it all the time and have the stitches removed a week later (doesn't hurt at all)
Honestly it's nothing to be scared of, i'm the biggest wimp ever and it was fine. I've heard if moles aren't cancerous they are "burnt" off? So maybe they'd do that if they think it's nothing to worry about but you want rid of it anyway. What does the mole actually look like? As I had like 4 of the "changes" to look out for and they still didn't know, were very calm about it at the hospital, so you prob have nothing to worry about! But I know how stressed you must feel.

[Anonymous]

(Original post by Anonymous)
Just saw your post about having fair skin & freckles - me too! I always burn, never tan so i'm very careful with my skin, but if it does happen to be cancerous all I can think of is it coming from getting sunburnt as a child.
Yeah I was really impressed how fast they were! Did your doctor let you know if it was an urgent appointment or not? As I think the urgent ones, they get you the first appointment avaliable in any local hospital, so I had to go a bit further than my closest hospital. You'll probably see a dermatologist btw.
I was checked at the doctors appointment (before being reffered) for any other moles, weirdly enough the one I had removed was the only mole I had! The rest are freckles.
How they removed it was, they gave me 3 injections around the mole of anesthetic (the first one stung a tinyyy bit - but the other two were fine, probably the anestethic had kicked in) then they just cut it off (I didn't watch haha) and gave me about 4 stitches, didn't hurt a bit! Then you just have to keep it clean and put vaseline on it all the time and have the stitches removed a week later (doesn't hurt at all)
Honestly it's nothing to be scared of, i'm the biggest wimp ever and it was fine. I've heard if moles aren't cancerous they are "burnt" off? So maybe they'd do that if they think it's nothing to worry about but you want rid of it anyway. What does the mole actually look like? As I had like 4 of the "changes" to look out for and they still didn't know, were very calm about it at the hospital, so you prob have nothing to worry about! But I know how stressed you must feel.

Yeah, I never tan, just burn. I'm so careful now, I always wear SPF 50 suncream and don't sunbathe or intentionally sit out in the sun but when I was a kid I did get burned a lot mostly swimming.

He didn't say if it was urgent just that I should hear within 2 weeks. Tbh I hope it's not urgent because that would worry me more!

Thanks for the informative post, I feel a lot better about them removing it now. I don't much care about my other moles I mean as long as they aren't cancerous it doesn't bother me enough to ask to get them removed. Funnily enough having this conversation reminded me of another one I should have asked the doctor to look at Oops. Hopefully at the clinic they will have time to take a look at that one too.

Er...it's hard to see exactly what it looks like as it's on my back but it's grown, it has irregular edges (rather than being smooth), the colour isn't uniform and it went through a period of itching a few months back but that's stopped now. So yeah...quite a few of the warning signs. What was yours like?

[Anonymous]

(Original post by Anonymous)
Yeah, I never tan, just burn. I'm so careful now, I always wear SPF 50 suncream and don't sunbathe or intentionally sit out in the sun but when I was a kid I did get burned a lot mostly swimming.

He didn't say if it was urgent just that I should hear within 2 weeks. Tbh I hope it's not urgent because that would worry me more!

Thanks for the informative post, I feel a lot better about them removing it now. I don't much care about my other moles I mean as long as they aren't cancerous it doesn't bother me enough to ask to get them removed. Funnily enough having this conversation reminded me of another one I should have asked the doctor to look at Oops. Hopefully at the clinic they will have time to take a look at that one too.

Er...it's hard to see exactly what it looks like as it's on my back but it's grown, it has irregular edges (rather than being smooth), the colour isn't uniform and it went through a period of itching a few months back but that's stopped now. So yeah...quite a few of the warning signs. What was yours like?

Yeah i'm exactly the same, a few occasions when swimming I got burnt reallly badly, i'm addicted to factor 50 now, even been using it when it's dull outside!
Yeah it would worry you more I suppose! But if they don't remove it then and there and give you another appointment, don't get stressed cos it's fine.
Yeah I wouldn't worry about the other moles, if you have loads, I doubt the NHS would remove them all for free, you'd prob have to go private and it'd be really costly, you sound like you really take care of your skin so I wouldn't bother with the others.
The hospital didn't actually check me for other moles, everything they needed to know was in the referral notes from my doctor, so I'd definitely ask them to check you all over and look at the other mole, maybe write down what you want to ask beforehand so you don't forget anything?
Yeah that is some of the signs, but doesn't sound like the worst "signs" so I bet it'll all be ok! At least you've gone to the doctors instead of just leaving it for ages like I did. Mine grew bigger, was asymmetric, sort of bumpy edges, dark pigmentation and had weird flakey skin on it at one point.
Oh yeah also, I wouldn't bother researching skin cancer (I haven't yet!) it'd probably just scare you more when everything will hopefully be ok! Just try not to get too stressed about it, do some things that will keep your mind off it all.