Though they might look unsightly, benign moles, lumps, and bumps on the skin are not something the NHS will pay to have removed, unless a GP suspects they may be malignant, who will then refer you. ‘The fact that it has doubled in size in the last year, is asymmetrical and that you only have one like it on your whole body is enough reason to have it removed and tested.’ While Dr Almaani is almost certain the mole on my leg is a harmless ‘serborrheic keratosis’, she thinks it’s best cut out and checked out. This is a hand held magnifier that doctors place over moles to see what’s really going on in the deeper layers of the skin. She works at King Edward VII NHS Hospital in Windsor and T he Private Clinic in Harley Street, London where I stood in her surgery in my knickers while she looked at every mole on my body with a ‘dermatoscope’. I never did get that referral letter and instead, recently opted for a second opinion with leading dermatologist Dr Noor Almaani, who specialises in moles, both malignant and benign. As a fully paid-up member of the vain hypochondriacs club I asked if I could have a referral to a dermatologist to have it doubled-checked and perhaps removed because it made me feel self-conscious in my bikini. ‘It looks like a benign mole to me,’ she said. I knew these weren’t good signs and that my history of sunburns as a child – I grew up in Australia – put me at increased risk, even with my olive skin.Īlmost all normal adults will have around 10-40 moles of varied shapes, colours and textures on their bodies by their 40th birthdaysĪnd yet, my GP didn’t look worried at all when she examined it at the beginning of last year. Instead of an even brown, its pigment is now darker in parts. The border now has jagged asymmetrical edges and it’s grown in size fourfold, its surface turned scaly. ‘It’s nothing,’ she said, sending me on my way.īut in the last couple of years it’s been changing. When a dermatologist examined it in 2001, I couldn’t even remember when it formed, so long had it been there. That’s how I’d always seen the mole on the back of my left thigh.ġ5 years ago it was a neat, round, slightly raised brown dot, like something you’d make with the tip of a marker pen. Some things are part of who we are, like fixed earlobes or square nails. Skin moles can range from harmless to life-threatening but do you know the difference? Editor Anna Magee gets one of her moles checked out and finds out what to look for in skin moles and how to treat them
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