Acne, Eczema & Skin Conditions

Hey, I've got this weird looking mole that I'm having looked at by a plastic surgeon on wednesday and I'm kind of worried...I mean it's kind of lumpy looking?

My PCP says it needs to come off but isn't telling me if it looks suspicious already or if it just might in the future?

Here's a pic? Warning...it's hard to shave well enough when you're so zoomed in..I apologize in advance.

Wondering what your thoughts might be?

http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y163/fouryearsgrace/?action=view&current=ml09.jpg

Hi there ... welcome to the board!

I'm glad you're already seeing your doctors about this mole, it looks suspicious.  It's hard to say if it's skin cancer or not, but the surgeon will remove it and have it tested.  If it comes back as cancer or even pre-cancer, they will check the borders of the removed tissue to see if they are normal.  If not, you'll be asked to go back in to have more tissue removed until they get clean, normal borders (meaning they got it all out).  Usually with a suspect mole, there is no further treatment needed.  Your doctor will likely do a full-body skin exam looking for other moles and spots, but having one doesn't automatically mean there will be more.   It is recommended that we have a full-body skin exam annually by a dermatologist.

I had a suspicious mole removed from the back of my shoulder a bit over a year ago.  It came back as a '9' on their scale of 0-10, '10' being full cancer.  They removed a larger area to make sure the borders were clean and that was it.  I had a few stitches and now have a scar, but I don't have a cancerous mole anymore.   I've had other spots removed in the past that came back as nothing but an ugly mole, LOL.  It's always best to have them checked out, just in case.  Skin cancer is VERY curable if caught early.

Here's a link you might be interested in:  http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/abcds-moles-melanoma.html   Once there, you'll find lots of skin cancer and mole information you can click around on at your leisure.  Please let us know if there is anything else we can help with, and PLEASE keep us posted on your situation.  Good luck!  :O)

I'm just nervous because my birthmark...which is rather large apparently is also in question. They are pretty close together.

But my birthmark has uneven borders and is about the size of a penny.