Mole Bleeding After Being Scratched

DB18 · 03-01-2004, 11:09 AM

I have what I think is a mole on my back. I scratched at the other day not knowing it was and it started to bleed. Two days later, it has since stopped bleeding and is just red. I am terrified that it might be melanoma. I plan on having it looked at by a dermatologist, but am nine months pregnant and need to concentrate on that right now. Can anyone please tell me how worried I should be or if you have experienced the same thing?

Saraly · 03-01-2004, 08:38 PM

Moles have a tendency to bleed when irritated and you may have severed part of it from the skin. What did the mole look like before you scratched it? Most people have moles and the vast majority of moles are nothing so please don't panic. If it's in an area where it gets irritated all the time ask your dermatologist to remove it.

lufour · 03-01-2004, 09:02 PM

Since you are 9 months pregnant meaning you are being seen by a Dr. often why don't you ask his/her opinion -- at least so you may ease your mind in the interim (until after the birth & the settling in period). It probably is nothing but promise yourself that you will have it looked at very soon after the baby arrives. Melanoma is nothing to play around with & should not be put off.

I put off going to the Dr. for 2 years and according to the Drs. that was insane. If it had spread I might have been a goner and it does not take long -- just several months. I had 41 Drs. involved in my case because I had the highest level of the disease & it had not spread they wanted to research to find out why. They took some tissue of mine to grow in a lab somewhere to study to find out what is unique about my cells.

I am happy to say I reached my 10-year mark in December & am pregnant with my first child. (I am 39!) I do not take any chances -- no sun, no tan, no risk. What is great about that is that I get an A/C enviornment always, get dropped off at the front doors of anywhere I go, no sweltering heat to endure to get that "healthy glow", and not worrying about something as petty as darker skin.

Good luck to you & doubt you have anything to worry about but check it out soon. By the way, my cancerous mole did not look like the pictures I have seen in the brochures.

Don't let me scare you. I just try to educate people since this disease does not get much exposure. If I tell people that I have had cancer & they ask what kind when I say skin cancer they are kind of like "oh, well that's nothing". Gotta get the word out. STAY OUTTA THE SUN & THOSE STUPID TANNING BEDS!!!! The people running those places will tell you how safe they are but they are the ones who stand to profit. Protect yourself. I still have a brother-in-law that teases me about being pale. I am alive & happy. He just never got it. Just goes to show how little attention is paid to this.

Take care & protect yourself. Wear your sunblock.

lisa1991 · 03-01-2004, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lufour

Since you are 9 months pregnant meaning you are being seen by a Dr. often why don't you ask his/her opinion -- at least so you may ease your mind in the interim (until after the birth & the settling in period). It probably is nothing but promise yourself that you will have it looked at very soon after the baby arrives. Melanoma is nothing to play around with & should not be put off.

I put off going to the Dr. for 2 years and according to the Drs. that was insane. If it had spread I might have been a goner and it does not take long -- just several months. I had 41 Drs. involved in my case because I had the highest level of the disease & it had not spread they wanted to research to find out why. They took some tissue of mine to grow in a lab somewhere to study to find out what is unique about my cells.

I am happy to say I reached my 10-year mark in December & am pregnant with my first child. (I am 39!) I do not take any chances -- no sun, no tan, no risk. What is great about that is that I get an A/C enviornment always, get dropped off at the front doors of anywhere I go, no sweltering heat to endure to get that "healthy glow", and not worrying about something as petty as darker skin.

Good luck to you & doubt you have anything to worry about but check it out soon. By the way, my cancerous mole did not look like the pictures I have seen in the brochures.

Don't let me scare you. I just try to educate people since this disease does not get much exposure. If I tell people that I have had cancer & they ask what kind when I say skin cancer they are kind of like "oh, well that's nothing". Gotta get the word out. STAY OUTTA THE SUN & THOSE STUPID TANNING BEDS!!!! The people running those places will tell you how safe they are but they are the ones who stand to profit. Protect yourself. I still have a brother-in-law that teases me about being pale. I am alive & happy. He just never got it. Just goes to show how little attention is paid to this.

Take care & protect yourself. Wear your sunblock.

Very well said. I had a mole that turned while I was pregnant. I did not think anything about it and this past september i was dx with basal cell and then during a routine check I showed hime the mole that changed while i was pregnant and he biopsied it and it came back malignant melanoma. I was very lucky because that mole changed 2 years before I had it looked at. Do not take any chances get the mole looked at by a dermatologist. Regular drs do not know what to look for. I was in the hospital for a week with my dd she was a preemie and seen several drs after that and they did not notice the mole. The basal cell that i had removed was looked at by my reg. dr. and he told me he was a keratose. He was wrong.

Lisa

lufour · 03-02-2004, 12:42 AM

Oh, I forgot about one thing. Two of my co-workers also turned up with melanoma & one of them said that a mole that had always been on her leg started growing very rapidly. The other co-worker asked her dr. about that & she confirmed that yes, pregnancy (hormones) can definitely accelerate its growth.

I only mention showing the OB for now just in case he/she has ANY knowledge about skin cancer but I should have prefaced it by saying most do not. A couple of the drs I go to now (not derm) are actually married to other drs & they confer with each other sometimes if they are not sure about something -- especially if they have different specialties. You just never know who might know what but don't put this off more than 6 weeks. Give yourself a deadline & stick to it. Otherwise it will be easy to put it off -- with the new baby you are going to be so busy but do this for yourself. Find a way because taking care of you is also taking care of baby.