Mole Removal
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free skin care · Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:48 pm

Being a Melanoma skin cancer survivor, I can add this:

My Skin and Cancer doctor gave me a list of what to look for. Here are the items to watch:

1) The mole is larger than 1/4 inch diameter (this is about the size of a pencil eraser).

2) The mole is irregular in shape, which could mean half-moon shape, or rough edges, or anything but perfectly round.

3) The mole has two or more shades of color. This means part of it is black and part is brown, or purple or some other shade.

4) The mole constantly itches or bleeds from time to time for no reason.

My particular mole had no symptoms that worried me at all. If it wasn't for my wife Sandy bugging me about it until I finally had it checked, I probably would have ignored it, and I wouldn't be here right now! My mole had the first three factors....it was much larger than a quarter of an inch, it was not round, but more of a half moon shape, and it was mostly black colored but slightly brown around the edges.

Don't be lulled into a false sense of security if the mole is in a spot that doesn't see the sun. Mine was below my ankle joint close to my right foot, which hardly ever saw the sun. Even the doctors were surprised that I had it there.

One other thing that is quite interesting. The doctor told me that if a hair or hairs are growing from the mole, then it will not be cancerous. I guess the mole needs to be healthy to have healthy hair growing from it.

I also wrote this article for a Self-Tanning Spray company that used a tanning spray formula I developed:

How to Give Yourself Melanoma

By: John C. Hill (Melanoma survivor)

Ive heard it before and have said it myself, Im not going to get skin cancer, I have naturally dark skin to begin with. Well, it turned out I did get skin cancer, and if it weren't for the early detection, I would not be here to write this article because I would be dead.

So, what really happened in my case and how did I get Melanoma? It seems that I actually lived a lifestyle that gave me the deadly skin disease. My very earliest memories are of the family vacations that we would take every year. Each year around April or May, our family would travel from Delaware to Florida to have a week vacation at the beaches near St. Petersburg, Florida. It literally became a family tradition, and I still own a time share condo in Treasure Island, Florida today. But back then our family would go to the beach early in the morning and stay until late in the afternoon. This was the mid 60s, and I never remember having sunscreen put on me or my brother at any time. We would just stay out on the beach and get burned. The severe sunburns are something I really remember as well as the smell of Noxema that my mother would put on our bright red skin to try to ease the pain. It really never did.

When we went home it would not be more than a week before our skin would peel severely from the burn that we would get. That hurt too, but we just thought that was part of the vacation process and never thought anything about it. As we got older around the mid 70s we started adding weekend trips to the beach at Rehobeth Beach, Delaware. We would get tan virtually all of the time. I would always walk around with a deep brown summertime tan. I remember trying to get as dark as possible so that I would keep the tan well into the cold Delaware winters.

Then, I discovered the sport of bodybuilding! I worked out all of the time, and got big and muscular. I realized that I would like to try competitions to see how I stacked up against other competitors onstage. So I began to prepare for the competitions and one part of the preparation was getting as tan as possible. Under the bright lights of the stage, the muscles can look small and washed out if the skin isnt as dark as possible. Most competitors get a natural tan and use tanning beds and self-tanners. I did all of the above. I tanned out in the Arizona sun almost everyday. After my daily workouts at night I would hit the tanning beds for 20 to 30 minutes. I got really dark! At my darkest, I almost looked like I was African-american just before show time.

I continued with this routine for at least four years until one day my wife asked how long Ive had the mole that was on my right ankle. I told her it has always been there and I didnt pay much attention to it. This mole was rather oddly shaped however, and did have two tones of color to it. At that point I decided (reluctantly) to have a skin specialist look at it. I remember the doctor telling me that is was good that I came in to have this mole checked. He removed all of it in the office and sent the material to be tested for skin cancer.

There are certain words that you never want to hear from a doctor. As I was sitting at my desk at work one week after the doctor visit I got a phone call. The very first words that he said was John, we have to do some things in a hurry!. Ill tell you, those words will send a cold shiver up your spine! He then went on to tell me that on a scale of T1 to T5 with T5 being the worst, I had T3 Melanoma at the site of the mole that he removed. He then went on to say that I needed to find an oncologist as quickly as possible so that we could determine if the melanoma had spread. I also had to find a plastic surgeon to do a wide area excision of skin all around where the mole had been removed. After the phone call, I just sat back in my chair at work and couldnt do anything. So many thoughts run through your mind when a doctor tells you that you have cancer. I almost couldnt believe it because I had had no symptoms and I was living a very, very healthy lifestyle. All except for all of the sun exposure I had gotten through the years.

I had literally given myself Melanoma without even knowing it. All of my childhood sunburns had stacked up against me. All of the tanning in the Arizona sun followed by baking in tanning beds had given me an awesome deep brown tan, and, melanoma! It didnt matter that my fathers side of the family was American Indian with naturally dark skin. I still got Melanoma.

The surgery to remove more skin from my ankle hurt, and hurt a lot. The area on my rear end where they took the skin graft hurt even more! In addition, I had to sit absolutely still for an entire month to let the skin graft have a chance to take on the rather meatless area of my right ankle. It was a horrible experience. My wife had to change the bandages daily and the skin graft actually turned black for a while. There is nothing worse than seeing your skin turn black and look like its dead. The cosmetic surgeon had to forcefully push the blood clots out from under the skin graft or there was a chance it wouldnt attach. This was an extremely painful procedure. After the month was up, I still couldnt wear a shoe so I had to use crutches for another month. When I finally could walk again, I fell flat on my face after the first step because my right leg had atrophied completely. I had no muscle mass left in the right leg because I hadnt used it for more than 2 months. That was a horrible experience for someone who was a martial artist and bodybuilder. All that muscle that I had was gone. It took months more before I could walk correctly again.

After being diagnosed with melanoma you have to realize that you will be checked continuously for any spread of the cancer or any future growth of melanoma at other sites on your skin. I had to continue to see the oncologist every 4 months for the next 5 years. I have also had 9 more moles removed by the skin specialist, some of which did have dysplastic cells. These types of cells are the precursor cells to skin cancer. So, it was vitally important to have them removed and also a reminder of the damage that I had done to my skin. I will probably have to continue to see the skin specialist on an every 6 months basis for the rest of my life.

The bottom line is this, you can give yourself melanoma. Dont try to convince yourself that youll never get skin cancer because you have naturally dark skin or because you tan just a little bit. My advice to you is to use sunscreen often and liberally. Wear protective clothing and a hat whenever possible. Dont stay out in the midday sun for any length of time and never, never use tanning beds. Always check your skin for anything that looks abnormal. If any moles appear to be larger than of an inch, or if they are odd shaped, or if they are two toned in color, or if they bleed or itch then they must be checked by a specialist. Dont wait to do this. Melanoma can be discovered and beaten if it is found in time. Im living proof of that. If you have to have a natural looking tan, try self-tanning products and stay out of the sun. But, whatever you do please dont give yourself melanoma like I did.

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