Returned mole worrisome

I'm a 29 year old female. I had a mole removed from my back and biopsy when I was 14. It was benign. It grew right back within a month. Now, 15 years later, I decided to have it checked out because my mom said it looked strange. My doctor suggested it may be a seborrheic keratosis. When I told her that it was a mole I had removed several years ago, she suddenly said she didn't know and photographed it to send to dermatology. Should I be concerned?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
What you are having is a recurrent nevus. Recurrent nevus is a melantic skin lesion which clinically resembles a superficial spreading melanoma at the site of a recent shave removal of a nevus. What happens is that melanocytes left behind in the wound regrow in an abnormal pattern. This is accompanied by scarring, inflammation, and blood vessel changes and this both the clinical and histologic impression of a melanoma.

You should get it photographed and biopsied to clear any doubts.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.