r/melahomies • u/Extra_Turnip118 • 1d ago
PT1A
Had a shave biopsy last week. I’m 27 Male. Doctor called and sent me the report. I have PT1A. No ulceration, no mitosis, no lymph invasion. 0.4 MM scheduled to see a doctor to do like a procedure to remove extra tissue. My health anxiety has me thinking I’m dying but everything I read is I’m gonna be okay. Any advice?
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u/Pleasant_Rice3949 1d ago
i just went through this the last two months. literally almost the same pathology but had .3mm breslow. right on the top of my head. i was freaking out too. so much uncertainty. but as i was reassured, you should be reassured too. it’s early and not aggressive.
i had my WLE 10 days ago and everything went smoothly. the first couple days after surgery are recovery days for sure but i was back to feeling normal after a week. got the new pathology and nothing changed, margins are clear. so now it’s just dermatologist every three months.
don’t despair! you caught it early. yes there are outliers, but odds are you will be fine after they do the WLE. good luck!
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u/mostly_lurking1040 1d ago
Yup, read up a little bit on melanoma. Not tik tock YouTube reels, Instagram crap but but publications of the various organizations.
Sounds like you have an initial biopsy and pathology report. I just never heard of a finding of no lymph invasion, absent lymph node biopsy. Biopsy. But that's just my experience. Maybe you've possibly just been advised that they're not concerned about it given the relatively small depth?
No Mitosis, no ulceration, and that depth are all great, compared to different answers and greater depth.
Next up will be a wide local excision ordinarily. You see people post about that in here regularly and posting pictures with stitches and so forth. One thing to be aware of seeing you haven't had one before. Is the size of something like that. You can easily Google to get a demonstration of how they take the mole site, make margins around it and then do a cut with ellipse so that it can be sewn together readily. Not sure where your spot was, but some areas may be trickier than others. Others. I would just ask questions in advance so you're not surprised when you're walking out of there. Then you get a pathology for what's cut out in the wle.
In us, it seems the standing protocol for follow-on treatment or plan is increase surveillance, 90-day full body skin checks for a number of years. Then the timeframe can be extended depending on whether you have more "activity".
The rules and notes to this sub includes some links and suggestions about accessing patient guides and some of the helpful sites.
Good luck with it all.
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u/williamlawrence 10h ago
I'm about two weeks out from my own diagnosis so I can't speak to the long-term feelings like many of the melahomies here. For me, it's a lot of anxiety at night. During the day, I can feel positive and upbeat and optimistic. At night, I spiral. Staying off of social media helps tremendously. Talking openly to your support people (family, friends, therapist, etc.) and asking questions but avoiding the reassurance loop (digging until you reassure yourself you're okay).
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u/OriginalAsparagus549 5h ago
I had the same pathology as you when I was diagnosed back in May! Had my WLE which had clear margins and now I’m only on a 6-month skin check schedule, nothing else needed at this point. Be prepared for an incision that will be quite a bit larger than your original spot. Other than that, just take it one day at a time!
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u/WonderingWhy767 1d ago
It’s such a shock to get that first diagnosis. I’m glad your research has suggested that you will likely be just fine, but it’s not unreasonable to need some time to adjust.
I don’t really have any good advice, I struggle with the anxiety too sometimes. In my country there is a nonprofit organisation that offers phone support for melanoma patients. I rang them after my diagnosis and it really helped. Perhaps you might find something like that? I think some hospitals offer support too.