After A Visit To The Dermatologist With 2 Biopsies Both

Posted on Fri, 15 Nov 2019

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 Answered on

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Question : After a visit to the dermatologist with 2 biopsies both came back “severe atypical moles”. Full excisions were scheduled. After conversations with the nurses I was told by both that this was a pre cancerous situation only and that after the excisions to get clear margins ..all would be OK. Do I have reason for concern it could be melanoma if the scrapes were as described above.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Kakkar (4 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Regarding distinction between atypical nevus and melanoma

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to ask a doctor service. have gone through your query and noted your concern

Atypical mole is a clinical diagnosis and it can be of varied degrees. A severely atypical nevus may infact be an early invasive melanoma as the features are almost similar. Some signs which definitely suggest a melanoma is bleeding, crusting, itching, pain and white or bluish color variegation but are absent in dysplastic nevi. However, only a biopsy can conclusively distinguish a dysplastic nevus from an early melanoma by virtue of the fact that a melanoma is invasive i.e extends to the level of dermis unlike an atypical nevus which is confined to the epidermis. In either case, removal with clear margins is the goal.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if you need any more assistance.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Nagamani Ng