Melanoma - possibility of false negative?

speculator — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 22:07:35 GMT

Hi all,

I recently had a melanoma removed (melanoma-in-situ so I'm not too worried). We're still in the process of working out whether further treatment is needed, but one thing is really bugging me right now, which is around a mole I had removed almost 3 years prior to the melanoma.

It was a mole that was ugly and starting to show clear patches in the middle, the dermatologist was convinced it was a melanoma. So much so that he told me that I was lucky I came to him when I did. But then the biopsy results came back negative. It was benign.

This more recent positive melanoma result makes me concerned. My skin appears to be at high risk of melanoma and I've been thinking about how sure the doctor was about the first mole removal years ago. What are the chances he was actually right and the biopsy produced a false negative? Should I worry about this? If so, is there anything I can do?

I'd appreciate some advice - the actual melanoma worries me less at this stage than the previous non-melanoma.

L8r.

Re: Melanoma - possibility of false negative?

sch — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 22:31:05 GMT

Hi,

As I'm sure you are aware, a sample is sent off to a lab for analysis, not analysed by the GP themselves.

My advise is generally to keep pushing until YOU are satisfied.

I don't really know what the test procedures/protocols are.

Perhaps ask your doctor his opinion on whether the earlier tests could have been false negatives and see if there are other tests they can perform to verify?

Best of luck!!

-s

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Melanoma - possibility of false negative?

Re: Melanoma - possibility of false negative?