Abnormal Biopsy results

[uagrad]

I just received a call from my dermatologist's office with the results of 2 moles that were biopsied, and both came back abnormal. Both were smooth moles, she said that the middle of them were abnormal but the outside of the moles were normal so they were confident that they removed them completely. I was curious to what this means, is it cancerous? will it turn into cancer? should i be worried? they want to see me in 3 months to do a checkup. they told me just to look and make sure they did not grow back. is that common?  25 yr old male, didnt know if that matters or not. Was sunburned a pretty good bit as a kid. not much in the past few years. also with the moles i never saw any change in them, of course i didnt really start looking at moles until a couple of months ago. thanks for the help.

[taraa]

if you want to ask the dr a question you have to go to the page that says patient to dr forum not patient to patient.  There is a fee to post a comment to the dr as opposed to free forums between patients.  The original post here was from a patient to the doctor.  Go to dermatology under the home page and register to post a question to the doctor.  Hope this helps!

[sun2moon4starr]

I have a bunch of flesh colored light "goosebump" type bumpy rash above both of my elbows. At the same time I got a pimply rash on my face that turned into just red bumps. The face does not itch, neither does above the elbows....what could this be?? I have had it over a week now. The face has partially cleared up, but the elbows seem to have gotten a little worse. I had fellation w/o ejac with a guy in Jan. Could this be an STD? I was tested soon after the event and all was neg. Maybe it was too soon to b tested??? Thanks

[uagrad]

i called them back and they said that the mole on my lower back was mild and the one on my mid-upper back was mild-moderate. she told me they were referred to as pre-cancerous. that i should come in every 3-6 months to have a body exam.

[uagrad]

also is it common for an abnormal result? do they always turn cancerous? thanks again

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

I don't know what they mean by 'abnormal.'  I suspect they mean that the moles were read as 'atypical' under the microscope, but many moles are a little atypical without their meaning much of anything.  If they were very atypical, the pathologist would have recommended that extra tissue be removed as a margin of safety, but that doesn't seem to have been judged as necessary.  So I think that you don't need to think about these moles at all, just return for regular checks as recommended by your dermatologist.  I do, however, think you deserve to get a fuller explanation from the dermatologist about what 'abnormal' means (or doesn't mean) in connection with your moles.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff