Melanoma and colon cancer **UPDATED**

[lpas]

So I had an appointment with the dermatologist this morning, who excised a small but suspicious-looking mole from a spot on my upper thigh that rarely sees sun exposure. The biopsy results won't be back for a week or so but she thinks there's a 50/50 chance it's melanoma. If I hadn't recently seen posts about this by both JDinNC and DK37, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about seeing a dermatologist.

So...here is my public service announcement. Per the dermatologist, having colon cancer means you are at increased risk for melanoma, regardless of sun exposure. Check your body for moles. If you see anything even the slightest bit suspicious, get it evaluated. Here are the signs to look for (from the American Cancer Society):

The ABCDE rule is a guide to the usual signs of melanoma. Be on the lookout and tell your doctor about spots that have any of the following features:

A is for Asymmetry: One half of a mole or birthmark does not match the other.
B is for Border: The edges are irregular, ragged, notched, or blurred.
C is for Color: The color is not the same all over and may include shades of brown or black, or sometimes with patches of pink, red, white, or blue.
D is for Diameter: The spot is larger than 6 millimeters across (about ¼ inch – the size of a pencil eraser), although melanomas can sometimes be smaller than this.
E is for Evolving: The mole is changing in size, shape, or color.
Some melanomas do not fit the rules described above. It is important to tell your doctor about any changes or new spots on the skin, or growths that look different from the rest of your moles.

Other warning signs are:

A sore that does not heal
Spread of pigment from the border of a spot into surrounding skin
Redness or a new swelling beyond the border
Change in sensation – itchiness, tenderness, or pain
Change in the surface of a mole – scaliness, oozing, bleeding, or the appearance of a bump or nodule

I hope this helps someone. And thanks again to JD and DK for alerting me to this issue!

FYI, this is almost exactly what my mole looked like:


**UPDATE**
The biopsy results are back. Pathology says it's a spitz nevus with severely atypical cells--so basically one step removed from melanoma. The dermatologist has me scheduled to come back in 2 weeks to do a wider excision around the area that was removed.

On the one hand, I'm relieved that they said it isn't malignant but on the other hand, from what I've read, it can be very tough to differentiate a spitz nevus from melanoma, and even expert pathologists frequently disagree. Will definitely be following up with more questions for the dermatologist when I go back in two weeks.

[cathy123]

Thanks for the heads up. One more dr appt to schedule! I hope yours turns out not to be in the not melanoma 50%. Hang in there.

[DK37]

I'm glad you caught the suspicious mole lpas!

Interesting - even though I have had both, I still haven't seen a clear connection in the literature between CRC and melanoma but some oncs may have seen it in their practices without publishing (or maybe I just missed the paper!).

Regardless, glad you caught it and I wholeheartedly agree to recommend everyone check for suspicious look moles - thanks for posting the warning signs! Like CRC, melanoma checks are pretty easy and mostly effective - survival stats all come down to how early you catch it. So check check check!

-DK

[dianetavegia]

Melanoma can be on the skin, in the colon or in the eyes. Maybe that's the correlation your derm is referring to.

[JDinNC]

So glad you went to your dermatologist to check that out. I'm learning not to take anything for granted anymore.

I've had basal cell cancer for over twenty years. Being of English heritage, I'm very freckled, it wasn't until I notice one of those freckles raising like a mosquito bite. It was perfectly round and light Amber in color so you can see it didn't fall into the normal melanoma category.
I did catch it early but my recurrances rate is still high.....melanoma metastasis is usually to the lungs so if a lung met shows up it will most likely have to be biopsy to see if it from colon or melanoma...

A couple a weeks ago, my dermatologist biopsied two areas and happy to report everything was ok. Butt he has me putting a fluorouracil cream on my face for precancer spots. My face is starting to look like I'm a burn victim. It's red and burns! Not fun!

Butt I would rather suffer though this then possibly losing half a nose or bad scaring from this cancer.

Jan

[esk2poo]

Mine looked like that too but was on the sole of my foot and that never saw the sun. Had mine 1 year before my CC diagnosis.

[ieowi]

Wow, i have seen something like this in my dad abdomen, I was wondering what is it. Just requested an appointment check it out.

Thank you for sharing this.

[Ron50]

I am out to nearly seventeen years post st3c colon cancer. I have had a raft of problems that are possibly the result of cancer and or chemo. The most serious is nephrotic syndrome of the kidneys. I loose up to seven grams of protein a day thru my urine. I have had three kidney biopsies and the results don't relate to the known kidney diseases. I am treated with cyclosporine and previously methotrexate. Both have much in common with 5fu. They make you extremely sun sensitive. I was recently at my molescan clinic . I have previously had cancers removed including a micronodular basal cell carcinoma one of the only bcc's considered really bad because they dive deep and travel via the nerves. My skin specialist found a patch of vascular pink skin covered with small brown dots. He was suspicious and surgically removed it. It turned out to be a bcc that had formed on scar tissue. He now has me on six monthly checks due to the cyclosporine. I live in Queensland Australia ,often termed the melanoma capital of the world. I have many friends my age who have been treated for melanoma. Strangely ,in women , one of the most common spots to find them is high on the backs of the legs , an area not normal exposed to sun. We all have to remain vigilant and it is not only diseases like breast and testicular cancer that requires self examination. The mirror and your partner can save you a lot of needless grief, Ron.

[Lydia666]

So I had an appointment with the dermatologist this morning, who excised a small but suspicious-looking mole from a spot on my upper thigh that rarely sees sun exposure. The biopsy results won't be back for a week or so but she thinks there's a 50/50 chance it's melanoma. If I hadn't recently seen posts about this by both JDinNC and DK37, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about seeing a dermatologist.

So...here is my public service announcement. Per the dermatologist, having colon cancer means you are at increased risk for melanoma, regardless of sun exposure. Check your body for moles. If you see anything even the slightest bit suspicious, get it evaluated. Here are the signs to look for (from the American Cancer Society):

The ABCDE rule is a guide to the usual signs of melanoma. Be on the lookout and tell your doctor about spots that have any of the following features:

A is for Asymmetry: One half of a mole or birthmark does not match the other.
B is for Border: The edges are irregular, ragged, notched, or blurred.
C is for Color: The color is not the same all over and may include shades of brown or black, or sometimes with patches of pink, red, white, or blue.
D is for Diameter: The spot is larger than 6 millimeters across (about ¼ inch – the size of a pencil eraser), although melanomas can sometimes be smaller than this.
E is for Evolving: The mole is changing in size, shape, or color.
Some melanomas do not fit the rules described above. It is important to tell your doctor about any changes or new spots on the skin, or growths that look different from the rest of your moles.

Other warning signs are:

A sore that does not heal
Spread of pigment from the border of a spot into surrounding skin
Redness or a new swelling beyond the border
Change in sensation – itchiness, tenderness, or pain
Change in the surface of a mole – scaliness, oozing, bleeding, or the appearance of a bump or nodule

I hope this helps someone. And thanks again to JD and DK for alerting me to this issue!

FYI, this is almost exactly what my mole looked like:

I'm Afraid of melanoma too. I saw a dermatologist last month but somehow i did not trust him. He examined me pretty fast. He said i have many spots that show up after birth which are not dangerous. I do feel like seeing someone else once this rectal cancer business is over. I have a million moles. Could I possibly have 3 cancers???? That would be insane. I think i would totally lose it.

Hopefully you have good news for us.

[lpas]

I'm glad you caught the suspicious mole lpas!

Interesting - even though I have had both, I still haven't seen a clear connection in the literature between CRC and melanoma but some oncs may have seen it in their practices without publishing (or maybe I just missed the paper!).

Regardless, glad you caught it and I wholeheartedly agree to recommend everyone check for suspicious look moles - thanks for posting the warning signs! Like CRC, melanoma checks are pretty easy and mostly effective - survival stats all come down to how early you catch it. So check check check!

-DK

It's interesting, I haven't seen any papers addressing this issue either (and I looked!) but the dermatologist seemed pretty confident about the connection. I specifically asked if the increased risk is for all cancers or just colon and she said it's true for colon, breast and lymphoma.

In other news, I just set up my regularly scheduled mammogram, so if this turns out to be melanoma I guess I'll be shooting for the trifecta.

[Nik Colon]

Best wishes to you. My sister had stage0/in situ and her son, they thought stage 4 at age 13 or 14, but luckily after going through many tests turned out to be Spitz Nevus which looks identical to it, still he went through scans for years. I had moles removed in the past, all benign, and had them look at my head after I had to shave it cuz I had a few, which said looked ok. I'm sure my scans throughout would have hopefully picked it up. Again, best wishes

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitz_nevus

I was going to remove one recently on my head by my ear that gets dryish, but canceled. Hope it was the right thing, but I know it's been there a long time, just never seen it till I shaved me head. It gets flaky at times but doc said it looked ok, so let's hope.

[jjinmd]

I hope yours comes back clear! I went in for my appointment 2 months ago when i decided to get back to "normal" health screening and I ended up with an in situ/stage 0. It is fully excised, and "no big deal" compared to stage iv colorectal according to my derm. But still, insult meet injury. I asked both oncs and the geneticist if there is a connection and all said none that they were aware had been proven. Good luck, and keep getting screened regularly!

[DK37]

So glad you went to your dermatologist to check that out. I'm learning not to take anything for granted anymore.

I've had basal cell cancer for over twenty years. Being of English heritage, I'm very freckled, it wasn't until I notice one of those freckles raising like a mosquito bite. It was perfectly round and light Amber in color so you can see it didn't fall into the normal melanoma category.
I did catch it early but my recurrances rate is still high.....melanoma metastasis is usually to the lungs so if a lung met shows up it will most likely have to be biopsy to see if it from colon or melanoma...

A couple a weeks ago, my dermatologist biopsied two areas and happy to report everything was ok. Butt he has me putting a fluorouracil cream on my face for precancer spots. My face is starting to look like I'm a burn victim. It's red and burns! Not fun!

Butt I would rather suffer though this then possibly losing half a nose or bad scaring from this cancer.

Jan

Jan: This new paper just came out this week in the prestigious medical journal the New England Journal of Medicine. Would help address your non-melanoma e.g. BCC but not melanoma itself. Might be worth a printout for your dermatologist.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1506197

-DK

[nbrandt]

I was told I needed a skin cancer checkup every 6 months while doing Folfox. If all ok then back to annual checkups. By the way lost my hair on my arms and legs but also my moles lightened while on chemo. My Dermatologist said all quick growing cells change while on chemo and that is why it is important to have six month checkups while on chemo?

[tif2112]

I had a small spot on my lower back that came back as basil cell, and to tell you the truth I am not sure if I have ever even mentioned to my dermatologist about having Rectal Cancer.