Could it have been Melanoma?

Hi

Last year I noticed a very small 2mm or so tan perfectly round bump on my arm - it seemed a little shiny in places when the light caught it. It also had a tiny freckle just below it - pin ***** sized.  I observed it for 6 months or so and it didnt change so I didnt worry about it too much.

Late last year my cat scratched me right on the bump and knocked it off - it bled a tiny bit and I squeezed at it (stupid I know) and the whole thing came away - it looked like there had been something stuck under my skin.  I am now left with a tiny reddish tan mark when the bump was - just like a tiny scar.

I then got to thinking it could have been nodular melanoma and now the doctor will never know - there is just this tiny mark where it had been.  I keep thinking this thing could be spreading inside me and no-one will know because the thing isnt there any more.

My rational mind says it wasnt nodular melanoma as that wouldnt just have fallen off and was likley to have regrown in the three months since the scratch - it was much more likely to be a seb k or minor blemish.  

Because there only a tiny flat reddish mark there now as evidence this thing existed at all my GP would be unlikely to be able to tell me anything.

Can you put my mind at rest ?

Thanks

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Sure.  Listen to your rational mind, which sounds like it has the right idea.  There are lots of little bumps you could have flicked off that way.  You can't flick off a nodular melanoma.  You're right that if there's nothing much left to see, nobody can look at it and tell you much.  But that still doesn't mean you should worry.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff