Is there any way a regular Joe can tell if his many moles could be cancerous? There must be a doctor somewhere in this place.
If not, what procedures does a doctor use to determine if a mole is cancerous or not?
Also, are moles hereditary?
Look for changes in moles, ie growth, bleeding, pain. Especially if they become irregular, or have more than one color within them. Your doctor will know only by taking a biopsy.
Here’s a nice site: http://www.cancerindex.org/clinks2s.htm
Now that you’ve gotten the medical advice from one of our resident doctors, I’d like to add an emotional plea: if you have any moles you’re not too sure about, get them checked now! Don’t wait, just make an appointment with a doctor.
At the age of 21, my fair-skinned, redheaded cousin noticed that a mole on his back had grown and become somewhat irregular in shape and color. He ignored it for three months, until it also started to bleed. At the age of 22, after eight months of intensive cancer treatments, my cousin died of malignant melanoma.
Six years later, when my husband noticed a mole of his had changed color and was a little itchy, he went to his doctor to check it out. A little over a week later, he was able to continue his life cancer-free, after having the cancerous mole and a little surrounding tissue removed.
Not to be alarmist, but…well, okay, I’m being alarmist, but for a good reason. Skin cancers are often easily removed/treated, but you have to get to them early. Do it now.
Think of ABCDE:
A: If it is asymmetrical.
B: If there the border of the mole looks strange, ie. ragged.
C: If it is a funny color, and more than one uniform color.
D: If the diameter is bigger than about the size of a pencil eraser.
E: If it is elevated.
None of these signs necessarily mean cancer but they do mean that it should be checked out right away. Also get them checked out with any changes. Only a doctor can tell if it is truly cancer, with a biopsy.
What exactly is a biopsy?
I have a ton of moles everywhere. Some are just visible spots on my skin, and a few are about a decent pimple size. My son plays with one on my neck every time I hold him. Some give off a little pain every now and then. My girlfriend says she has noticed a few new ones, as well.
Thanks for the advice, I’ll go get checked out on Monday for sure.
Quick ABCDE–
Aw, crap.
A biopsy is the microscopic examination of a piece of tissue or other part of the body to confirm a diagnosis. In other words someone will take a look at the mole under a miscroscope after it’s excised to see if there are cancerous cells present.
True story: My daughter-in-law saw a funny looking mole on top of my ear. She said I ought to get it looked at. So I asked my other daughter-in-law, a physician, to look at it. She said it was probably nothing, but I should ask my regular doctor to look at it. He said it was probably nothing, but gave me an appointment with a plastic surgeon who looked at it and said it was almost certainly nothing but I may as well have it off. So I came in a week or so later and he gave me a shot of something like novacaine in the ear, lopped it off (just call me Vincent) and sent it for biopsy. Guess what? It was nothing. But it might have been… Why take the chance?
Might as well recycle my story from a previous thread:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87786
Bottom line - get the things checked.