Atypical moles

I have been reading about atypical moles and melanoma.
I seem to have a lot of these atypical moles, and numerous risk factors for skin cancer. For starters, I had an extremely bad sunburn as a child. I am 23 years old now.
I have blue eyes and fair skin.
I believe I may have Atypical Mole Syndrome. Not sure whether other family members have lots of these moles.
My question is, do the majority of people with these risk factors go on to develop melanoma?
Should I plan my life around the possibility of developing this potentially life-threatening disease?
I plan to get a referral to a dermatologist this week and start getting regular skin checks.
Thank you.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Dave:

While you don't need to change your life in a drastic way, your planned visit to a dermatologist is a good idea.  For one thing, many of your spots may not be moles at all, but only freckles.

In any case, a "higher risk is a statistical statement.  All it means is that your risk is higher than the average, not that it is, say, over 50%.  But risk or not, all you can do is get regular checks.  Anything funny goes, anything all right stays.

Let your doctor do the worrying for you.  That's our job.

Good luck.

Dr. R

[Jeri P.]

My son, who is only 10, has just had a mole removed on his back & we were told that it was an atypical mole.  The mole appeared very quickly & it stood out because it was black in color.  He has a freckle on his stomach that is also black in color.  We have no history of melanoma in our family.  Isn't he young to be having this type of mole?  Is he at a higher risk of developing cancer because he is so young?