u/nz_reprezent — reddlx

37m. Nurse said I am too young. AI flagged my skin lesion as cancer (SCC). MoleMap said benign. Pathology result today confirmed SCC.

I had a bit of a wake-up call recently and thought it was worth sharing...

Several months ago after a four day sailing trip north of Auckland, I noticed I’d caught a bit of sun and had a small weird “pimple” on my cheek. It didn’t go away. After a few weeks I took close-up photos of it, thought it might be a wart, and stupidly(?) tried to burn it off with pharmacy cryo wart treatment. By week 5 it still hadn’t resolved, so tried another round of home administered wart treatment.

Then 6 weeks in I loaded the photos into ChatGPT. It flagged squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) as a real possibility and pushed pretty hard that I needed to get it checked properly and quickly.

That was honestly the turning point. I spent the night sleepless reading about SCC and started calling around the next morning for the earliest available appointment. I refused to settle for anyone who couldn’t see me within the week.

I first went to MoleMap for a spot check of only this one concern. They photographed it with their special camera and sent to their dermatologist - the report came back as that night as essentially benign / self-monitor (seborrhoeic keratosis). I wanted to believe that, but I the nurse didn't seem very thorough in capturing all the notes I had shared with her and so something still didn’t sit right / instil me with much confidence.

So I pushed further and booked in with a specialist skin clinic/surgeon (The Specialists Takapuna). That turned out to be the right call. Pathology has now confirmed today it was a cancerous SCC (squamous cell carcinoma in situ) - caught early enough before it spread / became invasive. The team there did a fantastic job - I cannot rate them all highly enough!

A few takeaways from this:

AI is not a doctor, but it certainly isn't doctor death like Google. It helped me ask better questions and not accept reassurance that didn’t feel quite right.
If something new appears on your skin and doesn’t go away, get it properly checked - maybe not by Molemap.
If you’re not comfortable with the answer you get, it’s OK to seek another opinion.
Don’t assume a pimple, wart, or random spot is nothing concerning just because it’s small or because you are "too young".

In my case, NIB health insurance has covered most of the surgical cost, but it has declined the MoleMap spot checkup (which ironically could have killed me / cost NIB a lot more if I had stopped there). I’m also checking my trauma cover with AIA because my policy appears to include "carcinoma-in-situ" as a partial payment condition.

Not posting this to scare anyone - more just to say: trust your gut, use the tools available to you, and don’t muck around with new or changing skin lesions, especially after sun exposure.

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Edit 1: Molemap - A few people have asked whether I’ve gone back to MoleMap. When I have their response I’ll update this post.

Edit 2: Molemap - To be fair I’m not posting this to start a pile on. Dermoscopy/imaging is not the same as pathology. In my case the MoleMap report came back as benign/self-monitor, while The Specialists Takapuna theory of SCC was later confirmed through pathology - so I do think it’s worth asking them to review how that call was made and the information at the Molemap nurse didn't include to their expert..

Edit 3: Mole mapping services - Since a lot of the comments are about how concerning some mole mapping and skin imaging services can be, I should clarify and give a plug to the entire team at The Specialists Takapuna. They were the ones who took the original lesion seriously from the get go - first on the phone with reception, then over email also with reception I believe, then in person on the day with the nurse and the surgeon. They were the team that removed it and sent it for pathology, which is what confirmed the SCC in situ. They also handled the preapproval with my private health insurer, which came through just in time while I was waiting in reception for my scheduled appointment.

Also worth sharing; I went back for their VECTRA 360 / 3D whole body imaging. It’s basically a detailed full body photographic baseline, similar in purpose to mole mapping... To be clear, the VECTRA 360 appointment itself is imaging only and is not a replacement for a physical human check. I’m also planning on going back to TSTakapuna for a separate full clinical skin check - feels like a much better ongoing surveillance setup now that I’ve had one confirmed skin cancer scare!

^Not an ad - just genuinely impressed with how thorough (yet quick) the process is there, and 16 days on my scar is near invisible.

Edit 4: Photos / timeline / background context - I’ll upload as much supporting context as I can shortly - provided I can do it without sharing anything personally identifying.

I think the this matters here a lot for educational purposes because this didn’t start as an obvious “cancer-looking” lesion. It looked like a small inflamed pimple/spot at first, then changed over a few weeks. I had someone tell me their mate similar age thought was a pimple on their chin and they forgot about it - and they're dead now.

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u/nz_reprezent — 1 day ago

▲ 6 r/LegalAdviceNZ

Appealing an MBIE decision to decline company name reservation

Has anyone successfully challenged a Companies Office company name reservation decline?

MBIE declined 5S Group Limited because it supposedly "identically matches" SS Group Limited. Using numbers instead of letters, especially a 5 instead of S feels like a stretch - mostly because it is phonetically different but also because then every single number/letter combination isn't practically searchable in the companies office.

There is absolutely nothing in the letter, correspondence nor online about challenging a decision. And the test is whether the name is “identical or almost identical” to another company name... it goes on to say a name may be too similar where the only difference is “Limited”, “Tapui” or “Unlimited”, or where the only difference is adding s to make a word plural. It does not mention number letter substitutions such as 5 versus S (or 3 instead of E or 1 instead of l or L/ i or I... Which would make sense if "5 Group Limited" (was the reason/existing registration) - did they simply get it wrong in this case?

What makes it more confusing is that the register already appears to include comparable examples, such as 5S Services Limited and SS Services Limited as well as 5S Construction Limited and SS Construction Limited.

I am aware it's only ten dollars or so... there are a few legitimate reasons for me not just moving on - the main one is 5S as a methodology which is core to our offering and Brand. But thought I would ask whether others have had success asking for reconsideration and how I would go about doing so?

u/nz_reprezent — 9 days ago

▲ 213 r/NewZealandWildlife

Found something interesting while cutting up an old fallen puriri log/tree in North Shore Auckland and trying to work out exactly what I’m looking at.

The tree has been down for around 3 years. Inside the timber are multiple very clean round tunnels/holes - roughly finger width - many lined with silk/webbing and some sealed.

In one tunnel I could see what looked like a live larva/grub sitting deeper inside. In another I found what appears to be a hollow papery shell further back in the tunnel, which made me wonder if something had already emerged from it.

I was originally thinking puriri moth larvae, but wanted verification and direction from people who know NZ native insects better.

Questions:

Are these definitely puriri moth tunnels?
Does the hollow papery shell indicate an adult already emerged?
If there are still live larvae inside, what’s the best thing to do with the log now?

I did unfortunately chainsaw the log and slam it down incredibly hard against solid concrete before realising something was living inside it, so hoping I haven’t killed whatever is still in there.

Also found what appears to be a NZ tunnelweb spider living in the same log which was pretty cool.

Photos attached.

u/nz_reprezent — 15 days ago