r/Melanoma

Hey everyone,

I’m looking to get a suspicious mole checked out, and I’m trying to figure out where the best place to go in the GTA is.

I know the usual route is getting a GP referral to a hospital clinic (like Sunnybrook or Women’s College), but the wait times can be brutal. Has anyone had good experiences with rapid-access skin cancer clinics or specific dermatologists who actually take their time and don't just rush you out the door?

I've actually been looking into a couple of places myself and found one clinic that seems really promising because they didnt need a referral. But before I lock anything in, I wanted to see what the collective wisdom of r/askTO thinks.

Where did you go, how long was the wait, and would you actually recommend them?

Thanks in advance!

I just heard about this from a MD Michael Christoper on IG who works out of Tucson. My derms don't do this every visit and now I'm freaking out a bit that I have another melanoma developing that has been overlooked. Does your derm look at your skin with this method every time?

I want to advocate for how important it is to listen to your gut feeling. I had a mole under my toe which my dermatologist would not have noticed despite video mapping and a full-body check, had I not shown it to him.

He wanted to monitor it, which I honestly don’t understand. If something looks suspicious, just cut it out…

I insisted on having it removed. It was a dysplastic mole with the potential to develop into a melanoma.

I have so many moles that do not meet the ABCD rule, which makes me really anxious. I don’t know how to get proper medical care…

Do dysplastic moles need to be excised again? These are all things that were never answered for me, because so far no doctor has gotten back to me…

I've always kept up on yearly full body derm checks, since it's recommended and I come from a family of northern European skin types. I F68 5'5" and with no other health issues. I run outdoors and exercise 6 days a week with sunscreen when I'm outdoors, 148lb with a medium build.

My concern is that over the local clinic but I went to for years has become part of a dermatology network and probably less focused on skin health and more on offering cosmetic procedures.

At my last exam in March they removed three spots, one of them was diagnosed as 1A melanoma and another as a dysplastic nevis. Both have been excised and now I'm on a 3-month recheck schedule, is this the time to switch to a more medically centered practice?

I'm in Minneapolis area so there are plenty associated with clinic and hospital systemss to choose from.

Part of my reasoning is the extent of my last all over check, friends state the exams include between the toes well and skim through your hair. I barely removed my socks and got a cursory glance, had on nail polish and I was upright in a chair unless I was standing, the last two years. In previous years the exam chair was reclined flat as a table, seemingly making it easier to see close up.

Do I stay or do I go elsewhere now?

If I had not lived in a society where I was taught that tanned skin was more attractive than my natural light skin color I wouldn't have used beds and laid in the sun intentionally year after year. If I had been accepting of my natural light skin color and educated that tanned skin was a sign of damage I wouldn't have been diagnosed with skin cancer and biopsied and cut and now worry for the rest of my life, monitoring for more skin cancer. Fake tanners promote the lie that tanning makes us prettier and more attractive. There's a skin cancer survivor on instagram who has had many disfiguring cancers removed which left terrible scars on her face and body and been through hell but is having a giveaway with a bottle tanning lotion and I personally feel that we should be promoting the look of healthy skin, not damaged skin. Fake or not, tanned skin is damaged. Anyway, the cognitive dissonance is strong when you have had multiple surgeries and treatments as the result of tanning and she's still promoting tanned looking skin. I'm not sure if you understand me but it's upsetting. And now we have new rules for younger teens that makes it easier to use dangerous tanning beds. It doesn't make sense. What do you think about fake tanning lotions?

I've had squamous and melanoma removed, I live in high desert and am so uncomfortable in the constant sun. Constant worry about ongoing sun exposure. I'm planning on moving (I live in a medical desert as well so I have another good reason to go where there's better access to healthcare) Has anyone moved to a more moderate climate after skin cancer diagnosis and felt it was worth it?

Has anyone found a particular window tint that actually protects you from the bad sun rays??

The window tint shops only seem to know about the darkness factors. They have no understanding about our concerns. I’m not sure a darker tint actually provides enough protection.

TIA for any and all advice!

Hi everybody, I am a 49 year-old married mother of three daughters, and I just got diagnosed with stage one melanoma last week. I’m seeing an oncologist tomorrow. I’m very overwhelmed, and I don’t know what to ask. Could you please tell me some helpful questions for my appointment tomorrow? I’d really appreciate it. The diagnosis has overshadowed my whole week, including Mother’s Day yesterday. It’s just really a lot to deal with, and any advice is appreciated. Thank you so much.

Hi all,

Diagnosed with amelanotic melanoma in 2018. Was 37 years old at the time, and had just been treated for papillary thyroid cancer (thyroidectomy) months earlier!

The details of my pathology report/diagnosis are already fading memory, which I mention if only to provide hope and encouragement to others that this too shall pass.

Have two photos to share which am hoping there will be an option to upload; if not, please message me.

So, my melanotic melanoma was initially misdiagnosed as a benign mole (or rather an "old friend, as the dermatologist put it). This took place in Seattle, Washington, though I am originally from Baltimore, MD. Many blistering childhood sunburns -- but never tanned or sunbathed. (In my mid-20s I did however get some bad sunburns one summer while in Greece.)

The melanoma was .8 in Breslow depth, non-ulcerated, and was roughly the diameter of a pencil eraser. It was decided to perform a wide local excision and sentinel node biopsy. The node biopsy came back clear and I think my staging was ultimately 1-b.

All these years later, I do the recommended skin exams (which now are just once a year). I know it is a sneaky disease and likes to recur, but it does not scare me as it used to.

Take care everyone,

Rebecca Anne Young

Hello!

My mon has stage IV and she started immunotherapy (ipi/nivo) last week.
Her fasted blood sugar levels before start were 3,4 -3,7 and the next day after immunotherapy it was 5,3 and now it is like this everyday. She didn’t change her diet at all.

Is it a normal thing or a side effect?

My mom has recurrent mucosal melanoma after surgery, radiation, pembrolizumab and BRAF/MEK therapy.

We are now considering nivo + ipi and possibly clinical trials/TIL.

Has anyone here seen good responses with nivo + ipi after prior PD-1 treatment in mucosal melanoma?

Any experience would mean a lot. Thank you.