Abnormal biopcy results

Hello everyone.  I have many-many moles on my body. None of them look bad. Over the last 2 years my dermatologyst removed 4-5 of them as they appeared too dark & results came back normal. A week ago I went to see her for full body check. She again said that nothing looks bad however since 2 moles looked slightly dark, she removed them. Today results came back & she told me that they did not not find cancer, however the results slightly abnormal. They both have mild abnormal cells. She wants to go deeper now & removed other moles as well. Both moles are on my right upper hand (between the elbow & sholder). I am so scared. My mom is battling stomach cancer st3  right now & just can not afford to have anothone in the family. I tried to ask the doctor what abonormal means. She did not give me clear explanation, siad that they just have abnormal cells. Did anyone have this experience? What does abnormal means?

She is probably referring to atypical cells.  It means just that, there were some mildly atypical cells.  I work for a dermatologist and this would not be concerning to him.  What is concerning is the number of moles, particulary on areas of your body which you can not see to be able to judge if something has become larger, darker etc.  Because you have many moles and some atypical you should be seen at least yearly and possibly every 6 months if you have many that have to be watched.  I would not be concerned about the mildly atypical lesion.  It is not considered cancer or precancer but some more moderately to severe dysplastic nevus can turn to melanoma so if one is predisposed to having several dysplastic (moderately to severe nevus) close monitoring would be prudent.  Hope this helps!  So sorry to hear about your mom. 

Thank you very much. It helps a lot. You explanation is the same as she told me yesterday, but you know that docotrs sometimes make it sound not scary, however the condition may be serious. I will be going for my next surgery in 13 days. I will keep you posted. Thank you about my mom. We are coping with her sickness. On-line messaging helps a lot too.

 

Thank you again

 

On 9/29/2008 spiro wrote:

Hello everyone.  I have many-many moles on my body. None of them look bad. Over the last 2 years my dermatologyst removed 4-5 of them as they appeared too dark & results came back normal. A week ago I went to see her for full body check. She again said that nothing looks bad however since 2 moles looked slightly dark, she removed them. Today results came back & she told me that they did not not find cancer, however the results slightly abnormal. They both have mild abnormal cells. She wants to go deeper now & removed other moles as well. Both moles are on my right upper hand (between the elbow & sholder). I am so scared. My mom is battling stomach cancer st3  right now & just can not afford to have anothone in the family. I tried to ask the doctor what abonormal means. She did not give me clear explanation, siad that they just have abnormal cells. Did anyone have this experience? What does abnormal means?

Like you, I also have many moles. I had 4 removed and sent for biopsy. One one my back came back as a atypical mole  or what is also called a dysplastic nevis with abnorrmal cells. There are three grades, mild moderate and severe. Abnormal means although it is not yet melanoma, it may have the potential to become that. Mine was moderate so it was removed via incision and came back with clear margins. Normally, mild is watchhed while moderate and severe are removed and sent for biopsy to see if they have clear margins. You or your derm may decide to remove it anyway. Hope this helps. Michael