Yeah. Had a small round birthmark ( Nevis) on upper thigh for 60 years. I noticed this year it had grown into a figure 8. I asked Dermatologist to biopsy it . She said it’s just a birthmark and to leave it. No. She repeated that it was nothing and dismissed my concern. No. I told her if it is a matter of insurance not paying for biopsy then I will pay out of pocket. She begrudgingly performed biopsy. I get call two days later with number to call Oncologist. Two days later sitting in front of him and he literally carved a canyon out of my leg. Woah. The pain for a week was burning fireworks. It was a Rare stage 1 aggressive melanoma that he said would have killed me in less than 5 years. He asked me what motivated me to request a biopsy because many dermatologists would have said it was just a birthmark. My response “ when a 1/4” round 60 year old “ mole” mark turns into a 3/4” droopy figure eight shape, my reaction was uh oh.” I also had her look at 2 other spots and they were both early melanoma. Be your own advocate!
So glad you advocated for yourself. It shouldn’t be a fight to have someone check something like that. As a future physician, we are taught when it changes like yours did its likely cancer!
I lucked into an amazing Derm. I have had many dysplastic moles over the years, in fact its about a 90/10 split where more are abnormal than normal. He will biopsy anything that I say has changed. His thought is "It's your body, you see it every single day. I see you twice a year and hundreds of patients a month so I trust your judgement" So far I havent been wrong yet.
Had a mole off my arm. Melanoma Stage 3. It was & is four inches long & not slim & tidy at all. Lots of movement on limbs require strong sutures & surgery was done by laser. Fascinating. Forty years ago now in Sunny Australia the Melanoma Capital of the World. Scar is a VERY SMALL price to pay for forty years of life. 🎉
My daughter had a mole on her chest that i hauled her to the Dr to get removed. It was the same shape and color for over 15 years then suddenly it was spreading and changing colors. Our Dr took one look at it and agreed it needed to be checked . Luckily it hadn't turned into cancer.
My ExHusbands Sister in Law found a mole on her back. It was cancer. She was d e ad in 4 months sadly. She passed from Liver cancer tho, not Melanoma! 30 years later my Brothet in law passed away from Liver Cancer too that presented in his EYE! I don’t know how this works Scientifically but that’s what we were all told. He refused to go to a Doctor till he couldn’t function he was so sick. His work threatened to fire him if he didn’t go to a Doctor! His Boss had to drive him he was so stupidly stubborn. It was stage 4 Liver Cancer. He was blind within a week and gone in 3! He never left the Hospital. The tragedy was had he gone to see a Doctor at his first sign of trouble He’d be alive! The whole family is like this! Thankfully I’m no longer related to them.
Just went through this with my husband. I kept pestering him about a mole on his shoulder. He didn't notice the change and his Dr kept saying its just a mole!! 3 yrs later it had gotten significantly larger and the color had changed more. Dr got the biopsy done just to quiet us but it was +! The surgeon said a quick little surgery wont be more than an inch if that!! Huge incision and ravine, they had a lot taken out! Stage 1 melanoma and needed to get all the tissue around it out, my thought is it was bigger below skin!! He still has a few spots on his stomach, he wants them gone!!
Tell him to watch for any signs of being dizzy. My best friend had skin cancer on a mole, they got it out but it was deep. She changed her life completely and she started feeling bad, sleepy a lot, passing out at work. It took 5 months to figure out it'd gone into the fluid in the spine. She passed away 10months from the day she fainted at work. Just young in her early 40's just married her best friend. So always check and if you've had or known someone who had skin cancer or cancer from a mole and show no signs for 10years and 5months wasted trying to figure it out and the pain. (To the people who don't live in Canada and have to pay for or cant pay for health care I cannot imagine what that's like. I see tv and think that everyone deserves free health care.) So if my words are remember later on in life remember this avoid the tests and time and ask for fluid to be checked. I pray that each of you or loved one gets healthy and live a longer life. Life is short check those moles, I've got over 50😢
That's enough for me! Making an appointment with my dermo today! I had a full body screen 3 years ago, all good. Had hormonal skin tags removed, one from my lower eyelid! But a mole that I've had since birth , has grown to double it's size since August. Thanks Dr.!
For anybody not believing this, my mom had a little mole with a thin black squiggly like in it, her derm said it was nothing. She insisted on biopsy. It was stage 1 melanoma. 4 inch scar on her forearm, i shit you not!
I had a large lump on my leg that slowly grew over 14 years. Turned out to be a rare form of skin cancer called DFSP. Drs for years had told me it was nothing. I finally managed to convince my family dr to biopsy it and after that things moved rather quickly. Almost one year since I got the diagnosis
My father ignored a dry patch on his cheek until it was too late. He died of skin cancer at 52. 2 months later, I had a dry patch on my cheek that wouldn't clear up. About the size of a quarter. I freaked. I told my doctor I know I am over-reacting, due to my father's recent death. But I want it gone! She took a pinch for a biopsy, & froze the rest. 2 weeks later I went back to have a leftover sliver froze off. As I was getting home, the phone was ringing, it was her. What had been on my face was a "becoming", not yet cancer but almost there. I have since had many moles & spots removed. Many are pre-cancers, but some have been "becomings". I get checked every 6 months now, as I am older. I have a great doctor! I don't know if it is related, but I had colon cancer in 2009.
And exact thing happen to me... just had a mole. Alil bigger than this one. It ended up being cancer. Spread to a lymph node.. now have a scar like this!!
The best thing is to know your own body, go to check ups and talk about suspicious moles/markings. Skin cancer isn't rare and it can easily be deadly. I had a basal cell carcinoma from the age of 17 to 21. Longer and it would've eaten my face up. Luckily it got removed. 🎊
Had a lower lip wedge incision 4 years ago . Took a big chunk of lip that was badly sundamaged to basal cell carcinoma. Keep wearing hats ..sunscreen..reapply..cover up up .
Doc. I have one but it’s flat. Everyone told me (mom, family) that it’s a birthmark. Now you’re not even saying that it isn’t. But I have a birthmark and it looks nothing like this (a mark somewhere else that’s not related to the first one I told you about).
It can happen and if there's a chance of it being melanoma they need to take off margins around it because moles can have roots and when cancerous will affect the surrounding tissue and lymph vessels under the skin. So it's far better to take a little extra than to just leave it there and still possibly become melanoma in the future. Her scar is still healing and that puckering around the incision should flatten over time. If not she can always get a quick scar revision in office or get some laser treatments to lessen the appearance of the scar.
Yeah. Had a small round birthmark ( Nevis) on upper thigh for 60 years. I noticed this year it had grown into a figure 8. I asked Dermatologist to biopsy it . She said it’s just a birthmark and to leave it. No. She repeated that it was nothing and dismissed my concern. No. I told her if it is a matter of insurance not paying for biopsy then I will pay out of pocket. She begrudgingly performed biopsy. I get call two days later with number to call Oncologist. Two days later sitting in front of him and he literally carved a canyon out of my leg. Woah. The pain for a week was burning fireworks. It was a Rare stage 1 aggressive melanoma that he said would have killed me in less than 5 years. He asked me what motivated me to request a biopsy because many dermatologists would have said it was just a birthmark. My response “ when a 1/4” round 60 year old “ mole” mark turns into a 3/4” droopy figure eight shape, my reaction was uh oh.” I also had her look at 2 other spots and they were both early melanoma. Be your own advocate!
Thank goodness you insisted! You're exactly right, be your own advocate!
So glad you advocated for yourself. It shouldn’t be a fight to have someone check something like that. As a future physician, we are taught when it changes like yours did its likely cancer!
It's your life, not your dermatologist's. Be your own guardian angel
I lucked into an amazing Derm. I have had many dysplastic moles over the years, in fact its about a 90/10 split where more are abnormal than normal. He will biopsy anything that I say has changed. His thought is "It's your body, you see it every single day. I see you twice a year and hundreds of patients a month so I trust your judgement" So far I havent been wrong yet.
Too many times the Dr's dismiss our symptoms.
Had a mole off my arm. Melanoma Stage 3. It was & is four inches long & not slim & tidy at all. Lots of movement on limbs require strong sutures & surgery was done by laser. Fascinating. Forty years ago now in Sunny Australia the Melanoma Capital of the World. Scar is a VERY SMALL price to pay for forty years of life.
🎉
My daughter had a mole on her chest that i hauled her to the Dr to get removed. It was the same shape and color for over 15 years then suddenly it was spreading and changing colors. Our Dr took one look at it and agreed it needed to be checked . Luckily it hadn't turned into cancer.
I'm so glad you listened to that gut feeling. ❤❤❤❤❤
My ExHusbands Sister in Law found a mole on her back. It was cancer. She was d e ad in 4 months sadly. She passed from Liver cancer tho, not Melanoma! 30 years later my Brothet in law passed away from Liver Cancer too that presented in his EYE! I don’t know how this works Scientifically but that’s what we were all told. He refused to go to a Doctor till he couldn’t function he was so sick. His work threatened to fire him if he didn’t go to a Doctor! His Boss had to drive him he was so stupidly stubborn. It was stage 4 Liver Cancer. He was blind within a week and gone in 3! He never left the Hospital. The tragedy was had he gone to see a Doctor at his first sign of trouble He’d be alive! The whole family is like this! Thankfully I’m no longer related to them.
Just went through this with my husband. I kept pestering him about a mole on his shoulder. He didn't notice the change and his Dr kept saying its just a mole!! 3 yrs later it had gotten significantly larger and the color had changed more. Dr got the biopsy done just to quiet us but it was +! The surgeon said a quick little surgery wont be more than an inch if that!! Huge incision and ravine, they had a lot taken out! Stage 1 melanoma and needed to get all the tissue around it out, my thought is it was bigger below skin!!
He still has a few spots on his stomach, he wants them gone!!
Tell him to watch for any signs of being dizzy. My best friend had skin cancer on a mole, they got it out but it was deep. She changed her life completely and she started feeling bad, sleepy a lot, passing out at work. It took 5 months to figure out it'd gone into the fluid in the spine. She passed away 10months from the day she fainted at work. Just young in her early 40's just married her best friend. So always check and if you've had or known someone who had skin cancer or cancer from a mole and show no signs for 10years and 5months wasted trying to figure it out and the pain. (To the people who don't live in Canada and have to pay for or cant pay for health care I cannot imagine what that's like. I see tv and think that everyone deserves free health care.) So if my words are remember later on in life remember this avoid the tests and time and ask for fluid to be checked. I pray that each of you or loved one gets healthy and live a longer life.
Life is short check those moles, I've got over 50😢
That's enough for me! Making an appointment with my dermo today! I had a full body screen 3 years ago, all good. Had hormonal skin tags removed, one from my lower eyelid! But a mole that I've had since birth , has grown to double it's size since August. Thanks Dr.!
hey! did you get it checked? are you alright?
Never mess with anything that even might become melanoma!
I've been there...
And as they removed it, I found out local anesthesia doesn't work on me 🙃
For anybody not believing this, my mom had a little mole with a thin black squiggly like in it, her derm said it was nothing. She insisted on biopsy. It was stage 1 melanoma. 4 inch scar on her forearm, i shit you not!
Mine has that.......had it since birth but it's changing colors and shape......yup time to go see about it. Ahhhhhhhh, all I need right now!
I’ve got a palm sized skin graft on my ankle due to a 1cm mole that ended up being stage 2 melanoma, get checked yearly!
I had a large lump on my leg that slowly grew over 14 years. Turned out to be a rare form of skin cancer called DFSP. Drs for years had told me it was nothing. I finally managed to convince my family dr to biopsy it and after that things moved rather quickly. Almost one year since I got the diagnosis
My father ignored a dry patch on his cheek until it was too late. He died of skin cancer at 52.
2 months later, I had a dry patch on my cheek that wouldn't clear up. About the size of a quarter. I freaked. I told my doctor I know I am over-reacting, due to my father's recent death. But I want it gone! She took a pinch for a biopsy, & froze the rest. 2 weeks later I went back to have a leftover sliver froze off. As I was getting home, the phone was ringing, it was her. What had been on my face was a "becoming", not yet cancer but almost there. I have since had many moles & spots removed. Many are pre-cancers, but some have been "becomings". I get checked every 6 months now, as I am older. I have a great doctor!
I don't know if it is related, but I had colon cancer in 2009.
And exact thing happen to me... just had a mole. Alil bigger than this one. It ended up being cancer. Spread to a lymph node.. now have a scar like this!!
I've had that surgery done, better be safe than sorry
I had a mole on my neck and I had to have the whole thing cut out. I now have a 4 inch scar across my throat.
The best thing is to know your own body, go to check ups and talk about suspicious moles/markings.
Skin cancer isn't rare and it can easily be deadly.
I had a basal cell carcinoma from the age of 17 to 21. Longer and it would've eaten my face up. Luckily it got removed. 🎊
The girl in the video looks like Caitlyn Clark
Damn! That’s gonna leave a scar. Glad it’s gone, but that cut is not aesthetically clean. Maybe go see a plastic surgeon to clean up that incision.
Had a lower lip wedge incision 4 years ago . Took a big chunk of lip that was badly sundamaged to basal cell carcinoma. Keep wearing hats ..sunscreen..reapply..cover up up .
I have this on my thigh now im scared
Go to a good dermatologist ASAP!
I told my mother in law that she should get a mole on her arm checked out. It was a melanoma. She is still cancer free 12 years later.
I have SO many of these🤣
Been there done that. Had one on my head
I think it's great as precaution. Why not. Just get rid of it.
Wow. What a great video.
I have bunch of big moles at the back of my neck and at other places too, never bothered me
That was a pretty huge chunk
The scar doesn't look too good!!!
That happened to my hand. Good thing the results were negative
Doc. I have one but it’s flat. Everyone told me (mom, family) that it’s a birthmark. Now you’re not even saying that it isn’t. But I have a birthmark and it looks nothing like this (a mark somewhere else that’s not related to the first one I told you about).
I had the exact same thing 😢😮
It's so annoying watching this with the girl in the background
Cut it out but why si the scar so bad??? Eho ever stitched hwr up did her dirty.
So should I get my moles looked at?
It looks like a huge incision for a mole. I am not believing that this is actually real.
Had the exact same thing happen to me
It can happen and if there's a chance of it being melanoma they need to take off margins around it because moles can have roots and when cancerous will affect the surrounding tissue and lymph vessels under the skin. So it's far better to take a little extra than to just leave it there and still possibly become melanoma in the future. Her scar is still healing and that puckering around the incision should flatten over time. If not she can always get a quick scar revision in office or get some laser treatments to lessen the appearance of the scar.
Sorry, but nowadays, the removal is done in a different way, with no cuts and no scars.
A nevis?
❤❤
Well, what a informative video next time.Don't make this