Pain from stitches mole removal

[sweetblubrry4]

I had a severly dysplastic mole removed from my upper right corner of my forehead.... probably about 18 hours ago. The anesthesia is slowly wearing off. I can still feel a little numbness at the top of my head but the stitches are really painful. It feels like the skin is closed tight and the stitch is too tight or something. It is very painful and I am not able to sleep cause of it. I have been taking tylenol and it does nothing. Since it was a pretty large area, and my forehead rounds out, it was a little tricky with the stitches. I was wearing a bandage that was tightly wrapped around my head but I took it off because I feel like the pressure was making it worse. What can I do to lessen the pain? Is it only going to be like this for a short while, for the skin to stretch a rejuvenate itself? It is not infected, it looks just fine and I have been putting neosporin on it, it just hurts!

[latingrlana]

Relax! You're worrying yourself sick. You've taken all the right steps and there's not much else you can do about your situation.

I had a mole on my fingernail that was biopsied when I was 13 and came out negative, then it came back and it was removed again when I was 19 and it was malignant melanoma. Luckily, it hadn't gotten past the epidermis, they cleared everything around it, and I've been free of cancer and mole on that site for 7 years. Of course, now I go to the dermatologist every 6 months for whole body mole checks, and have had several suspicious ones removed, most with no anomalies. One spot that did come out atypical was on hairline on my scalp. The original spot was taken out about 3 years ago, and now I just had it re-excised last week because one little spot came back.

I know it's scary to think things can be missed and wonder if you're over or under-reacting. You can't excise every little speck that turns up on your skin or you'll end up as one big scar (!). Just watch your moles and make sure to get them checked if you see them growing larger or changing overtime. Your dermatologist sounds like he's good at what he does, so trust him, and just do your best to monitor yourself.

[sweetblubrry4]

Thank you. I found out the tylenol that was prescribed for me by my derm also included codeine. I got that filled the next day and felt so much better.
I also have a another question about this severe dysplastic mole that I had removed on my head. Its been about two weeks and has been doing much better. It still has darker brown areas where it is healing, was kind of crusty and bleeing at first. But I called and they told me to wash it twice a day and use neosporin. The story behind this mole it was small at first, and gradually doubled in size over 5 years... and it didn't look that bad. Just a light brown spot with a slightly darker center. This mole was originally shave biopsied  and found to be severe atypical, and then it was surgery removed in my derm's office as the original biopsy did not get it all. After the excision, it came back with clear margins. However I am a hypochondriac and having a mole to this extent of severity really scared me. And I have been reading stories online where people have had moles removed, and margins were clear but it turned out pathology was wrong and they ended up finding that out after they had a secondary melanoma spread throughout their body years down the road. I am so terrified about this happening to me.

I really can't see how my derm would have missed someting, he seems very competant. Even during my surgery, he was teling me about the nerves in the head and how I may be feeling sensations and such on the top of my head. And also to lie down the first day so that I wouldn't get a black eye cause that can happen. I would have been scared to death if he hadn't told me this beforehand. He is also a derm who removes any that come back as mildly dysplastic as well by means of biopsy first....then excision with stitches. I've had two of those done on my back so far. I am still awaiting on 3 more biopsies but I am sure they are not melanoma but possibly dysplastic. He just wanted to be overly aggressive in getting anything suspicious b/c of the severe one I had and wants to see me back in 4 months. I honestly don't have many moles... I am running out after the ones he's biopsied or cut out. He even said that I don't have many.

So my question is, do I have anything to worry about? I am assuming the pathology was done by dermapathologists because I've read they use the terms mild, moderate, and severe dysplastic... where as regular pathologists use benign, atypical, or malignant and avoid the mild, mod, severe, etc.. Should I just be trusting my dermatologist? I have scared myself so bad reading stories online. I am 24 and have my whole life ahead of me and am terrified of thinking that maybe all the cells weren't clear and that it will turn into melanoma someday without me knowing because the surgery has been done and the mole can't be seen anymore. The scar is probably about 1 and quarter inch long, and I thought it would have been wider but maybe he went deeper I am not sure, the mole was about the size of a pencil eraser. Am I overreacting, and should I just go ahead and trust my derm? He doesn't seem to be in the least bit concerned about it but I haven't brought my fears up to him yet.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
Pain from stitches takes atleast 3-4 days to subside. You can get yourself prescribed anti inflammatory analgesics(pain killers) like Ibuprofen or Diclofenac and this will help in decreasing the pain. If the pain persists or becomes more severe then please consult your operating surgeon as opioid analgesics may be needed.
I hope it helps. Take care and please do keep me posted in case you have any additional doubts. Kind regards.