I am just curious at how your dr. biopsy your moles. I was dx with malignant melanoma and basal cell. I have had 17 moles biopsied and 11 cut out.

Lisa

Hi Lisa
I've had a malignant melanoma plus around 6 or 7 benign moles removed. None at all were biopsied. All were simply cut out. I've never heard of anyone having moles biopsied. Anyone I've known to have had moles removed just had the whole lot taken out. They seem to go for biopsies big time in the USA but maybe not in the UK.

Lidia
:)

Every lesion or mole that I have had removed has been sent to the pathology department at New York University Medical Center. The pathologist biopsies the specimen and sends the results to the doctor. The biopsy tells the doctor whether the excised tissue is benign or malignant. If it's malignant the biopsy shows if it's BCC, Squamous Cell or Melanoma. It also tells the doctor how wide and how deep the cancer is so he knows how much has to be removed and whether he can do it in the office or in the hospital. After the surgery, the tissue is sent back for further biopsy to be absolutely certain that all the borders are clear of cancer cells. There is NO WAY even a specialist can know if tissue is benign or malignant with the naked eye.

I think there's a bit of confusion here. A biopsy usually means removal of a small sample of whatever the suspect lump, growth etc is e.g. a small section of the mole or a small sample of tissue from a growth in the body. It's the doctor/surgeon who takes the biopsy then the pathologist examines the biopsied tissue microscopically.

What I was saying was that I had never had a biopsy done, the entire mole was removed in order to be examined by the pathologist, rather than a small biopsied section. I wasn't suggesting for a minute that anyone could make a diagnosis simply by looking at a mole.
Lidia :)

Oh, thank God!! I thought you meant doctors in the UK were removing moles and not biopsying! :eek:
I'm sorry, I misunderstood and relieved that you explained. You said you had 6 or 7 moles removed and none at all were biopsied. I almost fell off my chair!
Glad that's cleared up!! :D

How do your drs remove. By punch, excisional or shave biopsy?

I have had removal by punch but mostly by excision. I have never had a shave removal.

I've had 4 excisional and 14 punch biopsies. All of them (until now) have completely removed the mole and no further excision was required. Earlier this month I had a Melanoma Insitu removed, so I will be having a WLE next week.

Unless it's on the face or something like that, I've never understood why not just remove the whole thing and be done with it? My Dr's have always made sure that the punches were big enough to get the whole thing in one shot!

Kris

I've had 4 excisional and 14 punch biopsies. All of them (until now) have completely removed the mole and no further excision was required. Earlier this month I had a Melanoma Insitu removed, so I will be having a WLE next week.

Unless it's on the face or something like that, I've never understood why not just remove the whole thing and be done with it? My Dr's have always made sure that the punches were big enough to get the whole thing in one shot!

Kris

Hi Kris
I agree with you there. Don't quite understand all this biopsy business - just cut the whole thing out & be done with it. Let the pathologist examine the whole thing, not just a wee biopsy. That's whats always happened to me.

Not sure what a WLE is but guessing it's a wider excision. When I had my MM removed, my GP cut the whole thing out then a few weeks later I had a much wider, deeper V shape excision done with a () type of incision to make sure it was all gone. Hope all goes well for you.

Lidia
:)

Yep- WLE=Wide Local Excision- coming up Tues morning.

Thanks, Lidia!

Kris

Hi new to the forum. I have had a brown spot on my face for almost 6 years. I have been to 2 dermatologists and my regular dr. They all said it is a sun spot, and removal is cosmetic. So I had the spot lasered off, then it came back, had it lasered off again came back again, treated it with lightening cream. Then my inlaws said I should see another dermatologist in NYC, so I did, he was concerned and biopsied it and it came back as a probable Melanoma insitu. and it should be completely removed. So I went to the plastic surgeon since it is right under my eye. He removed it the lab results came back that it is a melanoma confined to the skin and more needed to be removed. Wondering if anyone else has had this and what this means in terms of my life... Thanks, Kitty

Hi new to the forum. I have had a brown spot on my face for almost 6 years. I have been to 2 dermatologists and my regular dr. They all said it is a sun spot, and removal is cosmetic. So I had the spot lasered off, then it came back, had it lasered off again came back again, treated it with lightening cream. Then my inlaws said I should see another dermatologist in NYC, so I did, he was concerned and biopsied it and it came back as a probable Melanoma insitu. and it should be completely removed. So I went to the plastic surgeon since it is right under my eye. He removed it the lab results came back that it is a melanoma confined to the skin and more needed to be removed. Wondering if anyone else has had this and what this means in terms of my life... Thanks, Kitty


Hi Kitty, I'm Catslove.
I wrote my message on the other page which was " A Scar after surgery, URGENT!" Please read it. Just I can say to you that, your skin should be removed little bit more to make sure that all of melanoma insitu removed completely. I don't know how much your dr. will take your skin, but, before surgery, ASK and TALK with your dr. how he/she performs surgery.You should understand that which method will be used and how much scar will be left after surgery. Of course, the most important thing is that complete removal of melanoma tissues. You don't want to take surgery again, right? Hope everything will go well with you. Good Luck! :p :)