AunieC
New User
Joined: 18 Aug 2007
Posts: 1
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 Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 1:53 pm Post subject: Worried....anyone here had an Amelanotic Melanoma? |
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Hi everyone,
I am a 34 year old mommy of 2 young children. I have always had a lot of freckles and moles and I have fair skin. About a year after my first children was born, I had 2 moles removed for biopsy because of their strange shape and size. I tend to be an overly anxious person to begin with, so you can only imagine how literally ill with worry I was while I waited for the results. My husband thought I was being completely irrational, and once we found out that the moles were benign, even got a bit angry with me for letting the doctor "butcher my back" (the 2 scars are pretty ugly). At the beginning of my pregnancy with my 2nd child, I noticed a reddish, round lesion start to appear on one of my legs. I have a tendency to get dermatofibroma's on my legs, and it really looked like one of those, so I didn't pay any attention to it at all. That was 3 years ago, and now I am starting to worry that it may not be a dermatofibroma afterall. It is oval shape (length being about 5mm, width being about 4mm), still reddish (not bright red) and blanches when pressure is on it. When it blanches, I noticed that underneath the red is some light tan pigment, almost like a freckle. It also has a small notch in one corner that does not go red....stays skin colored all of the time. It is very slightly raised from the skin....just enough that I can feel it on my leg. I have digital pictures that were taken 2 summers ago, and you can clearly see (especially when the pics are enlarged) that it was on my leg back then, and it seems to be roughly the same size. There is a mole about 2 inches away from it that is smaller than it is, so it helps for size comparisons in the picture. But I just don't think it is a dermatofibroma. It doesn't dimple when squeezed like a dermatofibroma usually does (and all of my others do), and it just seems a bit different.
I started searching the internet (I know, bad idea) and started to become paranoid and worried about an Amelanotic Melanoma. I know they are rare, but as someone who was born with half a uterus and one kidney, I happen to know that rare DOES happen sometimes. I went to the doctor, and he just brushed it off as a dermatofibroma or a keloid or scar from an insect bite, however I don't buy and insisted that he refer me to a dermatologist. He referred me, but here in Canada the wait is ridiculously long. They originally wouldn't see me until December. I called and told the nurse that I am going to have an anxiety attack if they don't get me in sooner. She was very sweet and moved me up to Sept.6 but I am still worried that this is too long to wait.
Sorry for all of the babbling, but here are my main questions....
Has anyone here had an Amelanotic Melanoma and if so, how did it present? Also, just how fast does a nodular melanoma grow? I worry about this thing being a NM because it is round and slightly raised. Would it have grown more than this in 2 years, because it really doesn't look much bigger if any bigger than it was 2 years ago.
To make matters worse, now I have discovered a very small (like 1mm) dark notchy shaped mole on the same leg, and now I am worried about this one as well.
How effective is dermascopy in detecting Amelanotic Melanoma's? Should I just insist that it be removed no matter what the dermatologist thinks. I think my husband will get irked again if I have another scar, this time on my leg, when it wasn't necessary, but if it isn't removed, I think I will worry for the rest of my life. |
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