Is this the medical call you would make, even if you didn't have insurance?

@Dutchess. If you have a history of cancer, get all epidermal anomalies checked. And maybe stay out of the sun so much.

Wow. Exactly how is it that you could know for certain that I spend “so much time” in the sun? Crazy, man. Like spooky, crazy clairvoyance.

I did exactly that. I opted to get an anomaly checked. That wasn’t the question.

Of course have it checked. I did and continue to spend a lot of time out in the sun. I’m halfway expecting skin cancer any day now.

Is the heat making every one reading challenged?! I didn’t ask if I should have it checked, dude! I had it checked. I’m asking what you would have done, given the option the doc gave me after he checked it.

Isn’t this a hypothetical “what would you do if…?” And not a quest for advice?

Even without insurance, I would have it dealt with. That is not hypothetical. I had cancer when I had insurance. Then I didn’t have insurance anymore (funny how that worked) so I had thought a lot about that very thing. I have insurance again, but I went for a loooong time without.

Yes, assuming I could foot the bill without insurance. It would be a tougher decision if I were deciding between groceries/heat/water and a biopsy.

@canidmajor That’s it. The heat is getting to you all!

No, it’s not hypothetical and I’m not asking for advice. I made my decision. It wasn’t a hard decision because I have insurance. But if I didn’t have $1000 dollars or whatever, out of pocket to pay to have the minor surgery and then biopsy, most likely for no reason on, the very off chance that it might be cancerous, would you still do it? The doc said it was probably nothing, I opted for biopsy anyway.

I too have gone very long stretches without insurance. There were times when I avoided going to the doctor, when I would have if I had insurance. Fortunately, during the most serious medical emergencies of my life, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, I had insurance.

Of course I would have it checked. better? I think you’re the one with heatstroke lol.

And I did have it checked, @ARE_you_kidding_me.

Right…@ANef_is_Enuf. You’re behind on rent, and it’s a regular struggle to pay the bills, and you don’t have insurance…..do you opt for a $1000, probably unnecessary, procedure?

Doubt it. In the past, when it was a choice between medical care and paying bills that need to be dealt with immediately, medical care could always “wait.” I’m not saying that’s necessarily a good idea.

I hear you, @ANef_is_Enuf. When I went through the second round of have no insurance, those 4 years owning my own business, it was a bit scary. I just tried not to think about what could happen.
When my husband then got a job that had insurance the first thing I did was go in for a check up just for the hell of it. A simple check up. The first thing they did was take my blood pressure of course….. and the nurse almost dropped the monitor thing and went running for the doctor. It was 230 over 140. Of course, I had no symptoms, had no idea.

I would. I had both an endoscopy and echocardiogram done last year without insurance. They billed me afterwards. Im in debt now, but the tests were necessary.

You and hubs have kind of been through hell this last year, haven’t you. What did the tests show?

I often used to wonder when I paid for medical insurance if some procedures, drugs etc., were that necessary. I think personally if there is money to be made then ‘they’ go for it. Well, not all but some. I would have left it. I hate anything medical!

Oh, I know they do. In this instance, though, the doc didn’t “go for it.” He just shrugged and said it was probably nothing, but gave me the option and I took it. The spot on my nose “was probably nothing,” too.

I would have had it removed with or without insurance if I thought it looked very similar. I wouldn’t trust the doctor.

My mother had something removed when a doctor said it was nothing and it was cancer.

I hardly ever go to the doctor for things like that. I think you were lucky/smart to do it.

I am going to butt in with a skeptical comment about skin cancer.

In a typical year, I hear of 2 to 4 people getting a spot of skin cancer treated. It seems to be kind of a hobby for two extended families I know.

Yet I have never heard of anyone with a serious skin cancer problem.

I really have to wonder if the doctors have created a pool of people who can be dependably frightened into getting an expensive treatment.

Am I right to be skeptical?

^^Well, if it’s melanoma and you don’t treat it very early you can wind up with having to take out a huge disfiguring chunk of skin out, deep into the sub-layers. If you catch melanoma medium early (my technical term) you can still wind up dying from it. It’s very deadly. Catch it late and you’re likely too late, because it’s in internal organs at that point.

Most of the rest of skin cancers you remove and it’s no big deal. If you don’t remove them early you can go for a while and you’re still fairly safe, but eventually you better do something.

A lot of people start getting 1, and then 2, then 3 skin cancers within a few years of each other. It’s like the damage done starts showing itself at a certain age.

Sorry @Dutchess III. I was just concerned about your health….

I’d add it to the list of possible or probable health issues I am currently ignoring.

@Call_Me_Jay A man I worked with died from melanoma two years ago. It is invasive and rapid and spread quickly even while he was in chemo. He went into remission for about six weeks before they realized it had spread to his brain.

Melanoma is one of the most deadly types of cancer. Untreated skin cancers of other types can metastisize into melanoma

Am I the only one who has read about what to look for in dealing with moles as being probably cancerous.

ANY change in shape or texture combined with irregular edges is a big flashing warning light that it MUST be biopsied.

There’s no way I would let something like that slide. If it were melanoma, I could be dead shortly. So, there are a lot of other things that might get put off but not that one.

(Perhaps I’m a bit more aware of this issue because I have a mole above my left eyebrow.) Obviously it’s a birthmark since I was born with it.

But if there were ever to be any change to it at all, I wouldn’t hesitate to get it checked.

Melanoma can hide in the most unlikely places where it can grow deep beneath the skin until it’s too late. There have been cases where people have had it under toenails and such.

Considering all the bad sunburns I had as a kid and never thought much about, I would definitely get any suspicious looking skin anomaly taken care of Pronto.

Also, I’m flat out amazed that the Dr. You just saw, left it up to you as to whether it should be biopsied. He should know better than anybody that you can’t really tell just by looking at something like that.

If it were me, I’d find a different Dr. One who was not so cavalier in dealing with possible risks to my life.

Years ago, I had a growing lump on the side of my face. My family Dr. opted to send me to a Dermatologist since it involved the face. He wasn’t alarmed cuz he said it looked like a sebaceous cyst (non cancerous)

The Dermatologist in some local andsthetic, removed it and put in a couple of stitches.

However, he told me to call in a few days for the biopsy results. I was a little surprised since even he said it was just a cyst but he just wanted to be absolutely certain because as he said “you can’t always tell just by looking. That’s why biopsies exist.”

I certainly had no objections to someone being extra careful. But if two medical professionals looked at it and said it didn’t look dangerous but STILL took the extra precaution of a biopsy then I’d say that sounds like good medical practice to me.

And if I ever encountered a Dr. willing to shortcut it simply because it didn’t LOOK problematic, I’d be looking for a different Dr.

You can’t tell just by looking. That’s why there are biopsies. And when dealing with something as potentially lethal as melanoma, I want the Dr. who does not take shortcuts and just goes on how it looks.

But that’s just me. I don’t mind a Dr. who’s a bit OCDish about being extra careful. That’s just fine with me especially if my life is at stake.

@Buttonstc No, you are not the only one. I talked about melanoma and disfigurement and death.

Sometimes a doctor will tell you to keep an eye on a mole rather than remove it.

I have a beauty mark and one time a doctor seemed ready to remove it, and I said I’ve had it since birth. No other doctor has ever suggested to remove it. That doctor probably likes the fees he gets to cut off everything. Once I said that he said just keep an eye on. It’s in a spot I can’t keep an eye easily, but ok. He didn’t even measure it.

Doctors suck too often. It’s very difficult.

My coworker’s hubby got melanoma and it ended up metastasizing to brain cancer and he died a horrible death. He worked for a power company and I can speculate that he was outside a lot on the lines.

My friend’s mom and my aunt both got melanoma on their noses which, as someone said above, resulted in large chunks being removed from that area. Very disfiguring.

Yikes. I guess it’s just luck that I don’t hear of people with problems from melanoma. I’m not skeptical now.

Yeah, I miss my old doctor. This is another doctor in the clinic that I had look at it. I am half heartedly looking for another.

@Call_Me_Jay I know someone who died in her early 40’s from melanoma found in her ovaries.

A woman who worked for me found her first melanoma in her 30’s, her dad had died from it in his early 40’s.

A man I worked with had about 15–20% of his face cut away because he had melanoma.

My BIL had a big chunk taken out on his neck close to his ear.

I think women tend to know more people with illnesses, because we talk more in general, and talk more about health. Plus, people who talk about illness in general, men and women, find out about other people’s illnesses. Maybe you do talk about illness, and you are just lucky to not know anyone who has had it.

@JLeslie
Of course a birthmark mole is likely not to be cancerous (as I very well know from my own) but Dutch described THIS one as having changed shape as well as irregular edges so I think that Dr. Is being far too cavalier about it.

I have not yet encountered any medical professional expressing any more than passing curiosity about mine. But that’s because I make it clear to them that if there’s any change at all with it, I’ll definitely bring it to their attention.

As long as I was there anyhow, I did ask the Dermatologist about how much trouble it would be to remove (I was thinking along the lines of freezing or electric needle like when I was a kid) but he said it was too large for that so he would have to do it with scalpel and stitches. )

That’s when I dropped the idea altogether. I’ll likely go to my grave with it and no big deal.

But the second it starts to change at all, and some Dr. Is too casual about it, that’s when I find a different Dr.

I’m hoping that the biopsy results for the recent one Dutch had turn up negative, but if it were me, I’d be Dr. shopping now. Hers doesn’t sound like a long term birthmark with no changes to me.