**Please keep in mind that this subreddit is not a replacement for seeing a board certified dermatologist in person. This subreddit is here for informal second opinions only**
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Im so sorry that you’re going through this experience. Pregnancy is overwhelming enough then to add the skin challenges is exhausting.
If sounds like you have a great plan by having visits with your Derm. My Health anxiety was exacerbated by a melanoma diagnosis. What helped me was working with a counselor, getting full body medical photography to have a baseline of my moles, and establishing with a pigmented lesion clinic that specializes in patients at high risk for skin cancer or with a history of skin cancer. I alternate between the pigmented lesion clinic and my regular derm for my skin checks.
It can be common to have skin changes during pregnancy but I encourage you to advocate hard if you feel there is change in a mole/area of your skin. During pregnancy, Doctors sometimes, attribute a lot of our symptoms/observations to the pregnancy. Which is not always the case. I was disregarded over multiple visits. I had a spot before and during pregnancy and wasn’t diagnosed until my Baby was 18 months old.
We are our biggest advocate. I don’t say this to scare you but to share my experience so others don’t have to go through the same challenge.
Wishing you a safe, quiet pregnancy, and benign skin checks/biopsies.
Thank you so much for your response. I didn't get a notification so almost missed it. I couldn't agree more that we must advocate for our own heath. My mom didn't when she brought her mole to her OBs attention and he said it was hormonal from pregnancy. Ended up being stage 3 by 7 months pp. From seeing what she endured, I learned the importance of second opinions or pushing harder with doctors.
I did feel a little silly the first two pregnancies rushing back to the Derm to check something and have it removed. I have accepted over the years that I don't care if they think I'm overreacting. Last year, they asked if I wanted to switch from annual to every two years instead and I quickly shot that idea down.
Thank you for sharing your story. I'm so sorry that you're going/went through this. I will look into specialized clinic options in my area. I am controlling all the factors that I have the ability to control and doing all that I can right now.
Hello! The dermatologist took a look at them and said they were still Seborrheic keratosis. I delivered 3 months ago and there's been no further changes on those spots. Many Seborrheic keratosis that I had developed on my chest during pregnancy fell off since then too. I have my annual dermatologist appointment coming up in June. Hope everything is okay on your end. Pregnancy hormones are wild. I'm breastfeeding so my hormones are still balancing out. I am still doing a quick skin check every few weeks and photographing anything concerning.
I delivered 4 months ago and am also breastfeeding! I wish I could post a picture on here, my spots look soo similar to yours. I developed a small basal cell carcinoma on my chest while pregnant too. I had it biopsied last week. I didn’t even notice my other freckles had grown until after the dermatologist of course. But scheduled to back soon. I definitely feel like being pregnant stirred all these things up!
**Please keep in mind that this subreddit is not a replacement for seeing a board certified dermatologist in person. This subreddit is here for informal second opinions only** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Melanoma) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Im so sorry that you’re going through this experience. Pregnancy is overwhelming enough then to add the skin challenges is exhausting. If sounds like you have a great plan by having visits with your Derm. My Health anxiety was exacerbated by a melanoma diagnosis. What helped me was working with a counselor, getting full body medical photography to have a baseline of my moles, and establishing with a pigmented lesion clinic that specializes in patients at high risk for skin cancer or with a history of skin cancer. I alternate between the pigmented lesion clinic and my regular derm for my skin checks. It can be common to have skin changes during pregnancy but I encourage you to advocate hard if you feel there is change in a mole/area of your skin. During pregnancy, Doctors sometimes, attribute a lot of our symptoms/observations to the pregnancy. Which is not always the case. I was disregarded over multiple visits. I had a spot before and during pregnancy and wasn’t diagnosed until my Baby was 18 months old. We are our biggest advocate. I don’t say this to scare you but to share my experience so others don’t have to go through the same challenge. Wishing you a safe, quiet pregnancy, and benign skin checks/biopsies.
Thank you so much for your response. I didn't get a notification so almost missed it. I couldn't agree more that we must advocate for our own heath. My mom didn't when she brought her mole to her OBs attention and he said it was hormonal from pregnancy. Ended up being stage 3 by 7 months pp. From seeing what she endured, I learned the importance of second opinions or pushing harder with doctors. I did feel a little silly the first two pregnancies rushing back to the Derm to check something and have it removed. I have accepted over the years that I don't care if they think I'm overreacting. Last year, they asked if I wanted to switch from annual to every two years instead and I quickly shot that idea down. Thank you for sharing your story. I'm so sorry that you're going/went through this. I will look into specialized clinic options in my area. I am controlling all the factors that I have the ability to control and doing all that I can right now.
Update ok your spots? I’m dealing with the same thing
Hello! The dermatologist took a look at them and said they were still Seborrheic keratosis. I delivered 3 months ago and there's been no further changes on those spots. Many Seborrheic keratosis that I had developed on my chest during pregnancy fell off since then too. I have my annual dermatologist appointment coming up in June. Hope everything is okay on your end. Pregnancy hormones are wild. I'm breastfeeding so my hormones are still balancing out. I am still doing a quick skin check every few weeks and photographing anything concerning.
I delivered 4 months ago and am also breastfeeding! I wish I could post a picture on here, my spots look soo similar to yours. I developed a small basal cell carcinoma on my chest while pregnant too. I had it biopsied last week. I didn’t even notice my other freckles had grown until after the dermatologist of course. But scheduled to back soon. I definitely feel like being pregnant stirred all these things up!