Worried about my other kids…
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Worried about my other kids…

› Forums › Cutaneous Melanoma Community › Worried about my other kids…

  • Post
    • May 16, 2017 at 3:53 am
    RitysMom
    Participant

      After Kristine's diagnosis last August, I made my other three kids begin seeing dermatologists. My 20 yr old son recently had two moles biopsied. His dr called today and said that one was abnormal…it's not cancerous, but if left it could become cancer. They had done a punch biopsy and didn't get it all, so they are having him come back in to remove the rest.

      I know it isn't cancer, but is it possible to request a scan based on the family history? Kristine never had a scan after her primary was removed in 2013 and I can't help but wonder if it would've been caught sooner had she been getting regular scans. 

      My oldest daughter also had a mole removed that came back as "changing cells" and they basically said the same thing, that it could become cancer if left alone.

      So basically my stress level is way up there. I want to know what we can do to be proactive and hopefully prevent another devastating diagnosis.

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        • May 16, 2017 at 1:18 pm
        Janner
        Participant

          Atypical or dysplastic nevi RARELY become melanoma.  If it is described as severely atypical, usually those are taken with 5mm margins just like melanoma in situ.  Again, not cancer but a higher degree of possibility.  Those that aren't severely atypical really stand little chance of ever changing into melanoma but since they do have some atypical features, typically they prefer them to be entirely excised.  Totally precautionery. 

          No doctor will do scans for an atypical mole.  Heck, most won't do scans for anything less than stage III.  And honestly, scans would not help.  Scans only pick up tumors or a certain size, not cancerous cells.  And your son isn't going to have a tumor based on an atypical mole.  Previous studies have shown that scans don't actually improve survival and there are some institutions that will only scan stage III and stage IV when they have symptoms.  Scans are not the answer to monitoring your kids.  And remember, scans also have a lot of radiation themselves.

          Best to learn to monitor their own skin.  Anything new and different (ugly duckling) or something that changes.  Baseline photos are a great tool to have in the arsenal. 

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