Visit at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance

[Lisa P]

Had my quarterly visit with my melanoma specialist, Dr. Nghiem, at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance this week. After a careful check by a resident, and a second by Dr. Nghiem, there didn’t seem to be anything overly concerning that needed to be biopsied. Dr. Nghiem talked about the fact that many people who have multiple melanomas (I’ve had three in two years), start to produce less of them as time goes on. February will be one year since the last one was discovered. I’m still on pins and needles, going in every month to my skin cancer dermatologist, Dr. Nghiem quarterly, and another doc bi-annually. At this point, everyone thinks the aggressive schedule is warranted but are hopeful we can relax a bit down the road. One thing that was very interesting was this: he said that babies are not born with moles, and old people don’t die with them. He said they actually begin to disappear in the elderly. Very interesting, indeed. He indicated it is likely that one or more of my existing moles could morph into melanoma (I have dysplastic nevi syndrome with almost all of my biopsies coming back as moderately abnormal). Needless to say, there’s concern there, but I’m trying to look at the positive in that I intend to catch anything that’s threatening. And there you have it. So far, so good. Sending healthy thoughts to all of you in this new year — Lisa.

[wpatterson4]

Quote:

he said that babies are not born with moles

I think they are. If you look at some of your path reports, you might see the term “congenital” in reference to a nevus.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1118659-overview” class=”bbcode_url”>http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1118659-overview

Several of the ten or so I had removed were said to be congenital compound nevi. Kind of ironic that the most sinister looking mole I had was congenital. It was probably the least “atypical” mole I had taken off.

[cohanja]

I’ve had some nurses and physician assistants tell me (probably incorrectly) that if a pigmented lesion is congenital, then don’t worry about those, those are less likely to become a problem. I don’t know if that is true or not.

[Worrywart]

The Dr was probably generalizing. Yes, many babies are born with congenital nevi, but most nevi develop as we age and then regress spontaneously as part of their ‘life-cycle’.

[Catherine Poole]

Yes, many babies are born with moles. Whether they are less risky for melanoma isn’t known. Careful following through the child’s life is warranted. Other moles pop up from sun exposure as do freckles. It is usually the combination of sun/tanning lamp and a mole that results in melanoma.

[wpatterson4]

For melanoma’s most numerous victims, whites of northern European ancestry, I wonder which contributes most to our risk: moles or pale skin.

Although I’m sure no one studying melanoma has gone this in-depth, I wonder if fair-skinned Caucasians with very few moles have a smaller lifetime risk of melanoma than darker skinned Caucasians with tons of moles.

[krissy424]

I was taught all moles appearing on an infants skin the first 12 months are considered congenital.

[Author]

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