Freckle? Or cause for concern?

[MillerK74]

Very tiny freckle...normal? I have numerous freckles on my body as I am pretty light skinned but for some reason this one is worrying me (I think because I never really took notice of it before), anyway, it was pretty small (WAY smaller than a pencil eraser), brown, and perfectly round. I accidentally scratched it one day and suddenly it felt raised and the obviously scabbed...today I accidentally scratched the scab so now it's a little redder than usual, but not any bigger. Does this sound like a typical freckle? Or should I be concerned? I know they say that if they're smaller than a pencil eraser, symmetrical, all one color, not bleeding/oozing, and usually flat you don't need to worry much but ever since it felt raised that day, I'm worrying, I just don't want to call my doctor, go in there, and look nuts because I bothered her over a freckle.

[MillerK74]

Thanks. It really hasn't changed in the last week or anything. I scratched it off (accidentally) in the shower the next day while shaving and of course it scabbed but it hasn't grown back extra raised or itchy, in fact, it basically looks like a scab now. I have quite a few other freckles and aside from this one raising after being irritated that night it looked the same...same color, same shape, same size as the rest. I think I'm just being paranoid. I haven't had any bad sunburns in recent years, haven't had any sunburn or tan in almost a full year, have no history in my family, basically no risk factors in at least a year. I'm gonna see how it turns out in the coming month or so and then maybe call my doctor...right now it's such a small spot (like the size of the dot the tip would make if you touched your skin) I think my doctor would think I'm crazy.

Good Luck with your surgery! Glad they caught it in time!

[melwhit78]

Hi there :) I would wait a week, and see if it goes back to normal.  The rule of thumb my dermatologist gave me was, if it looks different than all of the rest of your freckles/moles, get it checked out.  I noticed a mole on my thigh beginning to get dark, almost black.  It's still perfectly symmetrical, but I had it biopsied two days ago.  And today, I got an unfortunate call that it's a malignant melanoma.  Thankfully, they caught it in time & I should only need surgery to cut the rest of it out.  However, if you only scratched it & it now seems raised, I would wait until it heals & see what it looks like.  I hope that helps some!