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More information about FAMM?

Forums General Melanoma Community More information about FAMM?

  • Post
    harmonyvollmer
    Participant

      Hi, I'm new here and I think that I may have FAMM. I'm 23 years old and have had around 10 atypical moles removed with some coming back as having "moderate architectural abnormalities" or just "moderately atypical" and I've had one come back as a "pagetoid Spitz nevus". I have had two abnormal looking moles come back as benign. Every mole that I have had that was atypical in the lab was excised. I have hundreds of moles that look atypical but don't necessarily warrant excision as of now.

      Hi, I'm new here and I think that I may have FAMM. I'm 23 years old and have had around 10 atypical moles removed with some coming back as having "moderate architectural abnormalities" or just "moderately atypical" and I've had one come back as a "pagetoid Spitz nevus". I have had two abnormal looking moles come back as benign. Every mole that I have had that was atypical in the lab was excised. I have hundreds of moles that look atypical but don't necessarily warrant excision as of now. I have had moles my whole life, and was always warned to watch my moles, but they were all stable until I was about 19. At this time, I got pregnant and I noticed near the end of my pregnancy that I had two bad moles. My doctor suggested this might be due to hormones. But after I had my son, my moles did not stop changing and I typically have several moles removed in a year. I also am growing new moles at an alarming rate. I literally notice bad moles that were not even on my skin a year ago, or that looked perfectly fine a month ago. I have several concerns and I am always anxious about this condition. My first concern is that my paternal grandfather died of melanoma at age 49 in 1964. His daughter, my aunt, died of severely metastasized squamous cell carcinoma in 2007 at age 60. His son, my uncle, was diagnosed with melanoma several years ago, although he decided against treatment and is still fine as of now. My father has had many dysplastic nevi removed throughout his life but never developed melanoma. He has never received full excision, they just do a circle punch and don't do a large margin. My second concern is that my 3 1/2 year old son has developed a few benign looking little moles. They look totally fine, but so did mine when I was his age. I am scared that I passed this FAMM syndrome down to him. Does anybody know if this qualifies as FAMM? I'd like to be genetically tested or participate in a research study but I don't know how to go about doing that. Also, what are the chances of a mole with moderate atypia turning into melanoma, in someone with FAMM, if they don't excise the mole and just leave it on the body? 

      Thanks

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    • Replies
        awillett1991
        Participant
          Mel runs in my family and as far as I know although the greater overall chance for MM is so much higher, they are not going to tell you if you leave one mole it is at greater chance of metastasizing. If you dont like it, have them cut it off. You are doing the right thing by going to the derm regularly, if you are worried about your son, take him. If you are worrying yourself to death about Mel, see a psychologist.

          Herititary Mel is not treated any differently and very little is understood about it. All a clinical trial would do is bloodwork and follow up to see when/if you get the disease probably.

          awillett1991
          Participant
            Mel runs in my family and as far as I know although the greater overall chance for MM is so much higher, they are not going to tell you if you leave one mole it is at greater chance of metastasizing. If you dont like it, have them cut it off. You are doing the right thing by going to the derm regularly, if you are worried about your son, take him. If you are worrying yourself to death about Mel, see a psychologist.

            Herititary Mel is not treated any differently and very little is understood about it. All a clinical trial would do is bloodwork and follow up to see when/if you get the disease probably.

            awillett1991
            Participant
              Mel runs in my family and as far as I know although the greater overall chance for MM is so much higher, they are not going to tell you if you leave one mole it is at greater chance of metastasizing. If you dont like it, have them cut it off. You are doing the right thing by going to the derm regularly, if you are worried about your son, take him. If you are worrying yourself to death about Mel, see a psychologist.

              Herititary Mel is not treated any differently and very little is understood about it. All a clinical trial would do is bloodwork and follow up to see when/if you get the disease probably.

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