MY EXPERIENCE WITH PRECANCEROUS MOLES

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES INCLUDED IN THIS BLOG ⚠️

For those who have followed me for sometime now, you know my history and experience with precancerous moles. I wanted to make a blog to share my full story in one place for those who may be going through a similar experience.

How My Experience Started

As a junior in high school, I decided I wanted to be tan for my junior prom. So a couple months prior, I signed up for tanning at our local commercial 24-hour gym & started tanning. I would tan multiple times a week in a tanning bed, for WAY longer than I should have. If I had to guess I probably went 3-4 times a week for at least 20-30 minutes a session. This went on for about 2 months. On top of my tanning bed exposure I rarely ever used sunscreen in high school because I thought that being tan was “cool”. Fast forward to the beginning of my senior year and I started noticing new moles popping up on my breasts, belly, chest & back. Truthfully, I didn’t think much of it as I have always had many moles. A few months pass and it is now the end of my senior year of high school. I had the privilege of job shadowing a family friend who just so happened to be a dermatologist. At this point in my life I had decided I was going to pursue pre-medicine in college in hopes of becoming a dermatologist. After job-shadowing him for two days, learning a slew of information and seeing a wide array of different skin cancers, I decided that I probably needed to get a full body skin check myself. He agreed once he heard about my exposure with tanning beds & the fact that I lathered my body in 5 spf banana boat oil every time I laid out.

Dermatology Terminology

Before I get into the rest of my story I want to provide a little information about precancerous moles / melanoma & what certain terms mean:

Benign

Not cancerous

Dysplastic

Abnormal & similar characteristics to skin cancer – research is still unclear when dysplastic moles can turn into skin cancer, but it is known that they have the potential to!

Mildly Dysplastic

Usually they just shave these off & you are good to go – you just have to watch to make sure they don’t grow back!

Moderately Dysplastic

Just like mildly dysplastic! however, they usually want to see you every 6 months for a re-check!

Severely Dysplastic

When a mole comes back as severely dysplastic, they have to take roughly 3mm around the original biopsy margins & excise it down to the fat layer to ensure they removed enough of the tissue. Since severely dysplastic shares the most characteristics with melanoma, it is much more serious.

Melanoma

This is the most dangerous & deadly form of skin cancer!

My First Skin Check

My first skin check was in the spring of 2016 & I ended up getting one mole on my chest shaved off. He biopsied it and sent it off to the pathology lab to get tested. About a week later, he called to tell me that it came back as moderately dysplastic & because of this I needed to go back in another 6 months for a re-check. He also told me to watch the site to make sure no coloration comes back. Thankfully he got clear borders and didn’t have to shave anymore off.

Follow Up

Then… I went to college over 5 hours away. I failed to go back and see him after 6 months. Instead, I waited over 18 months. Over the course of those 18 months I had noticed a few moles had changed which ultimately prompted me to go in to get them checked out. Again, I ended up getting a couple more moles cut off & again they ended up being moderately dysplastic. He wanted me to come back in 6 months for another re-check. This went on for about 3 years straight – 6 month re-check appointments & a couple moderately dysplastic moles with each appt. I had three bigger moles on my breast that he watched for about 2 years but they kept getting bigger… So fast forward to July of 2021, we decided to remove one of the larger moles on my breast & biopsy it – he ended up removing the biggest/scariest looking one. His rationale behind this was that whatever this one came back as, the other two would most likely come back the same since they were all three so similar. Well unfortunately, this one came back as severely dysplastic… one grade away from melanoma. So I had to get the other two off & because of this, I had to get them all excised down to the fat layer just to be safe. Since July of 2021, I have had a couple more moderately dysplastic moles removed & one more severely dysplastic mole removed & excised down to the fat layer. Thankfully, we have caught every single one of these early enough where they hadn’t progressed to melanoma/skin cancer, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

Picture #1: This is what my moles looked like before I got them removed! The big one started off about the side of the smaller one on my breast and grew slowly over the course of 4 years until I got it removed. 

Picture #2: This is what the large mole looked like under the derm scope. My dermatologist said the darker center and patchiness is what made him remove it.

Picture #3: This is after I got the big mole on my breast removed. He initially just excised the top layer using a scalpel but when we found out that it was severely dysplastic that is when we had to remove even more tissue.

Picture #4: This is after I got even more tissue removed down to the fat layer & then got stitched up!

My Takeaways from my Experience

My body is now covered in over a dozen of scars from my mole removals. I would do absolutely anything to go back in time & tell my younger self that the tanning beds were NOT worth the pain that they’ve caused me. Being “tan” wasn’t worth the dozen of scars that I have scattered all over my body.

Moral of the story is that no one thinks it’ll happen to them until it actually does… I was once young & thought I was invincible too…  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE WEAR YOUR SUNSCREEN, STAY OUT OF TANNING BEDS, & GET YOUR SKIN CHECKED! IT IS SO IMPORTANT! Being tan is NOT worth the risks that can accompany it, I promise you!!!

I know God has a plan for me. I know that I can use my platform to spread awareness & help others be proactive about their skin health & hopefully prevent things like this from happening to themselves as well.

Self-Screen for Melanoma

Also another tidbit of information I want to share with you about moles — here is what you should be looking for in your moles to screen for melanoma… Look for the ABCDE’s of melanoma:

– asymmetry

– borders (irregular)

– color (different colors/ unusual shades)

– diameter (larger than a pencil eraser)

– evolving (changing)

FAQs

Does it hurt?

You don’t feel it! They numb you up with lidocaine and then take a little blade to shave it off. 

How do you take care of your biopsy site?

I let water run over it in the shower, apply a little vaseline to the wound and cover it with a non-adhesive pad & hypafix tape until it heals and isn’t an open wound anymore! I then use Bowler Esthetics healing balm & bio oil to prevent scarring.

How do I get in with a dermatologist?

Most of the time you can just call a dermatology office in your area and ask to get a full body skin check. Other times, you may need a referral from your primary care doctor!

Your skin is your body’s largest organ & melanoma is NO joke — I hope by sharing my story it inspires others to start taking better care of their skin – love you guys so much, please never be afraid to reach out, I’m here for you!!!

INSTAGRAM POST LINK: https://www.instagram.com/p/CYVMT7nsmqX/?igsh=NGx3M3RldmgxaDg5

VIDEO I MADE ON THE EXPERIENCE: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRTuYsBe/

xoxo,

Bailey

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