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Shaved mole

› Forums › Cutaneous Melanoma Community › Shaved mole

  • Post
    • February 2, 2018 at 4:34 am
    jhw31
    Participant

      Hi, I recently had a mole on my labia (L) shaved off and it has come back as melanoma in situ but apparently they didn't get it all and I now have to go back for a wider excision. I am unable to get into a surgeon for several weeks and I am concerned that as they didn't get it all, the cells remaining can spread. I am new to all of this so thought I would ask if this is true and whether I need to be pushing harder for an urgent appointment? 

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        • February 2, 2018 at 5:12 am
        Janner
        Participant

          Are you sure they didn't get it all?  What does your pathology report say?  All melanoma requires EXTRA margins and rarely is the biopsy big enough to get the extra bit.  Usually they want at least 5mm margins of normal tissue for melanoma in situ.  As for waiting, it has been studied and the outcome doesn't change if you wait.  Most of us have had to wait between a week to a month depending upon the institution.   It's not easy but it is typical.  If you have questions, talk to your derm.  But your story sounds about the same as most of us here.

            • February 2, 2018 at 5:13 pm
            sister of patient
            Participant

              But, if this is mucosal mel, you can't make comparisons that easily – each type of mel seems to have its own sub-set of difficulties. To the anon poster: Is this mucosal? If so, there are folks here dealing with that specifically who may be better able to answer your questions. Wishing you the best,

              Barb

            • February 3, 2018 at 1:17 am
            jennunicorn
            Participant

              In situ means that it was confined to the outermost layer of skin, which means it has no access to blood or lymph vessels so it has no way of spreading. They need to take extra margins because that is standard of care no matter how deep. Yours was caught extremely early and I would not worry about the wait, emotionally it really sucks, but with in situ melanoma, waiting weeks for the wide local excision is totally normal. 

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