Moderately Atypical Mole

Forums General Melanoma Community Moderately Atypical Mole

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    Exhausted
    Participant

      Sorry this is alot less severe than the norm around here, but I had a mole that my dermatologist wasn't worried about but had him remove it anyway and it came back moderately atypical.

      Of course this isn't the worst thing in the world, but I am looking for information on how much this increases my risk for melanoma and how worried I should be about some of my other moles that seem slightly off.  I don't want to be so aggressive that I look like swiss cheese, but I do want to make the best choices and nip any potential major problems in the bud.

      Thanks!

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        CHD
        Participant

          Once you have an atypical mole, you know your body is capable of producing them.  For that reason alone, I would tend to recommend biopsying a few of the other more worrisome ones to see if they are atypical.

          With moles that are moderately to severely atypical, and in particular when you have a history of having more than one, my dermatologist would want to watch you closely and would have a low threshold for biopsying any future unusual looking moles you may have.  This may vary from one derm to the next but it makes sense to me.  Having had melanoma, I would tend to err on the side of caution and have them removed.

          That said, I realize that might be easy for me to say because I have very few of them.  There are people with hundreds of them.  In those cases, there are different things that can be done to manage them.

          One atypical mole is not overly alarming, but I would personally play it safe and get some of the others biopsied.  The more atypical moles, the higher your risk of eventually developing a skin cancer like melanoma, of course.  So I would want to know about the others.

          CHD
          Participant

            Once you have an atypical mole, you know your body is capable of producing them.  For that reason alone, I would tend to recommend biopsying a few of the other more worrisome ones to see if they are atypical.

            With moles that are moderately to severely atypical, and in particular when you have a history of having more than one, my dermatologist would want to watch you closely and would have a low threshold for biopsying any future unusual looking moles you may have.  This may vary from one derm to the next but it makes sense to me.  Having had melanoma, I would tend to err on the side of caution and have them removed.

            That said, I realize that might be easy for me to say because I have very few of them.  There are people with hundreds of them.  In those cases, there are different things that can be done to manage them.

            One atypical mole is not overly alarming, but I would personally play it safe and get some of the others biopsied.  The more atypical moles, the higher your risk of eventually developing a skin cancer like melanoma, of course.  So I would want to know about the others.

            CHD
            Participant

              Once you have an atypical mole, you know your body is capable of producing them.  For that reason alone, I would tend to recommend biopsying a few of the other more worrisome ones to see if they are atypical.

              With moles that are moderately to severely atypical, and in particular when you have a history of having more than one, my dermatologist would want to watch you closely and would have a low threshold for biopsying any future unusual looking moles you may have.  This may vary from one derm to the next but it makes sense to me.  Having had melanoma, I would tend to err on the side of caution and have them removed.

              That said, I realize that might be easy for me to say because I have very few of them.  There are people with hundreds of them.  In those cases, there are different things that can be done to manage them.

              One atypical mole is not overly alarming, but I would personally play it safe and get some of the others biopsied.  The more atypical moles, the higher your risk of eventually developing a skin cancer like melanoma, of course.  So I would want to know about the others.

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