Biopsy concerns
Hello, I recently found a flat brown spot about 10 mm on my scalp while getting my hair colored. I saw my GP who referred me to a dermatologist. I saw the NP in the Dermatologist's office. She was very quick and came in to look at the spot and said the edges looked pretty symmetrical so she’s not overly concerned. She said we can just monitor it every three months or remove it.
I asked about a biopsy because this was something she mentioned in our initial virtual consultation prior. She said she could if it would make me feel better. I said yes! So she did the puncture biopsy and said I would hear back in 2-3 days.
7 days later I got a phone call saying she was sorry it took longer they found some stuff they didn’t like and had to do a few more slides. She is now sending me to the surgery department to have a full excisional biopsy with margins that they said would take an hour. This appointment is a month away. I’m kind of freaking out that I still have no answers or diagnosis and that I’m just waiting for this.
Is it ok to wait that long? If it’s something cancerous, shouldn’t we be getting it out ASAP and find out what it is?
Hi
!
Sorry to hear they found something suspicious. When I was first diagnosed with melanoma, I remember my dermatologist wasn't concerned but I insisted they get it biopsied. Sounds like you did the right thing.
The best piece of advice I can give is to get a second opinion. There was probably about a 4 week lapse from my first biopsy and my wide excision. You might want to call around and see if someone will see you sooner. Wishing you the best of luck!Hi
Thanks for your response! I did speak to the surgeons office Friday. They sent over the pathology report from the initial puncture biopsy. I sat for an hour googling words trying to understand what it means♀️ I guess there is hope in the fact that there wasn’t initial terrible news from the first biopsy but it just seems like they are saying they didn’t get enough to say for certain. The report says there is Central Pagetoid spread of melanocytes
Broad based junctional melanaocytic proliferation... irregular nuclear contours. epitheloid morphology of cells And bother peripheral margins.
But then says overall it shows features of a junctional lentiginous Nevus With special site nevus.
Foreign language most of this to me!!
yet they are recommending full wide excision with negative margins. I’m just confused. I did call back to try and get the dermatologist to explain it to me more and see about getting in sooner but I never got a call back yet.
