Question:
In 2001, I had a whole body scan at a dermatologist's (my uncle had recently
died of melanoma and since I have a lot of moles on my body, was just being
cautious).He found a suspicious site in, of all places, my belly-button.
Sent it for biopsy and biopsy report diagnosis was "Skin biopsy, left side of umbilicus -
lentiginous dysplastic compound nevus with moderate to severe atypia". When
the nurse called to tell me about the biopsy and need for surgery to remove
deeper level of tissue, she called it "pre-melanoma".My question is:
was this really pre-melanoma? Could it just as well have been
pre-another-kind-of-skin-cancer? How did she come to call it "pre-melanoma"?
Answer:
No,dysplastic naevi are pre-melanoma, not pre-any other sort of skin
cancer.Doesn't mean they will become melanoma,however.
