Mildly Atypical Mole With Positive Margins

Thank you Janner!

Melanoma is my biggest fear. When I was 4 years old it claimed my mothers life in 7 months…. now that I am a mother, I try to stay on top of my skin to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to me. I need to be here for my daughters. The surgeon just really scared me this morning. I did a lot of online research and found that many, if not most, people with mild atypical legions tend to watch and wait. I even read that a lot of derms consider mild results benign and not a major cause for concern. So I thought I was being very proactive by electing to make sure we had clear margins but then he just filled me with fear. He even told me a story of a woman who had a mild reported on pathology and came in to re-excise and it was later determined that the original pathology was misread and it was actually invasive melanoma. Why would you tell someone THAT story while cutting into their leg?? I'm sure there are crazy exceptions that doctors run into when they been doing this long enough but I'm just don't sure those are the stories that should be shared with an already anxious patient. Now I'll be terrified for the next 2 weeks while I wait for pathology results.

My regular derm called to check on me yesterday and I told her about my experience with the surgeon. She was so upset that he had scared me so much. She explained that while he is a great surgeon, he tends to be extreme and "cut happy". She was familiar with the story he told me about the girl with a "mild atypical" biopsy result that was diagnosed with Mel upon re-excision but assured me that was almost 20 yrs ago and that the practice hasn't seen anything like that since. She also said that the original path on that case was read wrong and they were suspicious from the start… much different than my situation. She also told me that she personally, has never had a mild or moderate come back with a worse diagnosis than it went out with and that the surgeon was giving me the very worst case  scenario. She said, is it possible?? Yes. Is it likely??? Absolutely not. She compared it with going to the urgent care because you've had an upset stomach for a few days and instead of the doctor telling you that you probably have a stomach virus, he tells you it could be a parasite eating you from the inside out… possible yes but EXTREMELY unlikely. I felt much better after I spoke with her. While I'm still nervous, I feel calmer.

My regular derm called to check on me yesterday and I told her about my experience with the surgeon. She was so upset that he had scared me so much. She explained that while he is a great surgeon, he tends to be extreme and "cut happy". She was familiar with the story he told me about the girl with a "mild atypical" biopsy result that was diagnosed with Mel upon re-excision but assured me that was almost 20 yrs ago and that the practice hasn't seen anything like that since. She also said that the original path on that case was read wrong and they were suspicious from the start… much different than my situation. She also told me that she personally, has never had a mild or moderate come back with a worse diagnosis than it went out with and that the surgeon was giving me the very worst case  scenario. She said, is it possible?? Yes. Is it likely??? Absolutely not. She compared it with going to the urgent care because you've had an upset stomach for a few days and instead of the doctor telling you that you probably have a stomach virus, he tells you it could be a parasite eating you from the inside out… possible yes but EXTREMELY unlikely. I felt much better after I spoke with her. While I'm still nervous, I feel calmer.

My regular derm called to check on me yesterday and I told her about my experience with the surgeon. She was so upset that he had scared me so much. She explained that while he is a great surgeon, he tends to be extreme and "cut happy". She was familiar with the story he told me about the girl with a "mild atypical" biopsy result that was diagnosed with Mel upon re-excision but assured me that was almost 20 yrs ago and that the practice hasn't seen anything like that since. She also said that the original path on that case was read wrong and they were suspicious from the start… much different than my situation. She also told me that she personally, has never had a mild or moderate come back with a worse diagnosis than it went out with and that the surgeon was giving me the very worst case  scenario. She said, is it possible?? Yes. Is it likely??? Absolutely not. She compared it with going to the urgent care because you've had an upset stomach for a few days and instead of the doctor telling you that you probably have a stomach virus, he tells you it could be a parasite eating you from the inside out… possible yes but EXTREMELY unlikely. I felt much better after I spoke with her. While I'm still nervous, I feel calmer.

Thank you Janner!

Melanoma is my biggest fear. When I was 4 years old it claimed my mothers life in 7 months…. now that I am a mother, I try to stay on top of my skin to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to me. I need to be here for my daughters. The surgeon just really scared me this morning. I did a lot of online research and found that many, if not most, people with mild atypical legions tend to watch and wait. I even read that a lot of derms consider mild results benign and not a major cause for concern. So I thought I was being very proactive by electing to make sure we had clear margins but then he just filled me with fear. He even told me a story of a woman who had a mild reported on pathology and came in to re-excise and it was later determined that the original pathology was misread and it was actually invasive melanoma. Why would you tell someone THAT story while cutting into their leg?? I'm sure there are crazy exceptions that doctors run into when they been doing this long enough but I'm just don't sure those are the stories that should be shared with an already anxious patient. Now I'll be terrified for the next 2 weeks while I wait for pathology results.

Thank you Janner!

Melanoma is my biggest fear. When I was 4 years old it claimed my mothers life in 7 months…. now that I am a mother, I try to stay on top of my skin to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to me. I need to be here for my daughters. The surgeon just really scared me this morning. I did a lot of online research and found that many, if not most, people with mild atypical legions tend to watch and wait. I even read that a lot of derms consider mild results benign and not a major cause for concern. So I thought I was being very proactive by electing to make sure we had clear margins but then he just filled me with fear. He even told me a story of a woman who had a mild reported on pathology and came in to re-excise and it was later determined that the original pathology was misread and it was actually invasive melanoma. Why would you tell someone THAT story while cutting into their leg?? I'm sure there are crazy exceptions that doctors run into when they been doing this long enough but I'm just don't sure those are the stories that should be shared with an already anxious patient. Now I'll be terrified for the next 2 weeks while I wait for pathology results.