Average Joe
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2006
- Messages
- 93
In the past year I went from being active duty and having my military doctor tell me “Your moles look normal, they don’t need to be checked” to being a civilian and having a dermatologist/surgeon cutting out nice thick chunks of my flesh and advising me that I should have a thorough exam of every square inch of my skin once a year and that I need to thoroughly check myself once a month.
For several years wife has been saying “get those checked.” And on a few occasions I went to clinic and asked a doctor to look and I always got the same flavor answer – along the lines of “looks perfectly normal, nothing to worry about, no need for biopsy or dermatology referral” - and the unspoken undertone was always - look, I’m really busy, I have ten patients waiting behind you, I've got no time for this, please get out fast.
Within 3 months of becoming a civilian I had a mole do something odd suddenly and without apparent cause. So I went to my new civilian doctor, and he referred me to a dermatologist right away. Dermatologist said we should check these moles. Biopsies round 1 – no problems – even on the weird one. Doctor wanted to check a couple others. OK fine but I’m not worried anymore – the weird one checked out OK and military doctors have told me that the moles my wife worries about look fine to them. Biopsies round two – displastic nevi, which I think means “structurally abnormal moles” - as I understood the explanation, there is some continuum of displasia ranging from “no problem” all the way to melanoma. My biopsies were not melanoma but were displastic enough that the doctor wanted to remove these particular ones along with a little margin around to ensure they were all gone. I was stunned – so much so that my first reaction was to think “No way – that can’t be necessary – I’m fine – what could these little discolorations possibly do to me?” But I figured removal of a couple moles couldn’t be much more involved than a punch biopsy had been – a little cutting, a couple stitches, and you’re good to go – right? Well, not exactly.
It was painless with local anesthetic and merely uncomfortable bordering on ouch when the anesthetic wore off. But it was more than a biopsy. He cut out a couple deep (well a lot deeper than I thought they’d be anyway) chunks of flesh – with a fat layer too - and cauterized some in each incision with a sizzling thing (sort of like a soldering iron – smelled a bit like burnt barbecue). Then he sutured the inside layers with some sort of filament that absorbs over time, and sewed the outside with some other filament that will be removed in a couple weeks. So I’ve got a couple of 2 inch lines of stitches (which itch) and restrictions on bending, stretching, lifting, and exercising for the next couple weeks. And I’m on a course of antibiotics as a prophylactic measure. Who knew surgery to remove a couple moles would be so much like surgery?
For several years wife has been saying “get those checked.” And on a few occasions I went to clinic and asked a doctor to look and I always got the same flavor answer – along the lines of “looks perfectly normal, nothing to worry about, no need for biopsy or dermatology referral” - and the unspoken undertone was always - look, I’m really busy, I have ten patients waiting behind you, I've got no time for this, please get out fast.
Within 3 months of becoming a civilian I had a mole do something odd suddenly and without apparent cause. So I went to my new civilian doctor, and he referred me to a dermatologist right away. Dermatologist said we should check these moles. Biopsies round 1 – no problems – even on the weird one. Doctor wanted to check a couple others. OK fine but I’m not worried anymore – the weird one checked out OK and military doctors have told me that the moles my wife worries about look fine to them. Biopsies round two – displastic nevi, which I think means “structurally abnormal moles” - as I understood the explanation, there is some continuum of displasia ranging from “no problem” all the way to melanoma. My biopsies were not melanoma but were displastic enough that the doctor wanted to remove these particular ones along with a little margin around to ensure they were all gone. I was stunned – so much so that my first reaction was to think “No way – that can’t be necessary – I’m fine – what could these little discolorations possibly do to me?” But I figured removal of a couple moles couldn’t be much more involved than a punch biopsy had been – a little cutting, a couple stitches, and you’re good to go – right? Well, not exactly.
It was painless with local anesthetic and merely uncomfortable bordering on ouch when the anesthetic wore off. But it was more than a biopsy. He cut out a couple deep (well a lot deeper than I thought they’d be anyway) chunks of flesh – with a fat layer too - and cauterized some in each incision with a sizzling thing (sort of like a soldering iron – smelled a bit like burnt barbecue). Then he sutured the inside layers with some sort of filament that absorbs over time, and sewed the outside with some other filament that will be removed in a couple weeks. So I’ve got a couple of 2 inch lines of stitches (which itch) and restrictions on bending, stretching, lifting, and exercising for the next couple weeks. And I’m on a course of antibiotics as a prophylactic measure. Who knew surgery to remove a couple moles would be so much like surgery?
