Do I have skin cancer?

I went to the doctor a week ago to have two odd moles looked at. She decided to do an incisional biopsy on them. Yesterday the doc called and said that one of them was a "highly atypical nevus" and that I should come back ASAP to get more tissue removed with a margin. I'm going in tomorrow to do that. When I asked what that means, she said that we'd talk about it in person. Now I'm worried.





I'm only 26, but I have a lot of risk factors for skin cancer--family history, blue eyes and red hair, pale skin and freckles, many many bad sunburns, congenital nevi (moles I was born with), and a precancerous mole that was removed 7 years ago. That's why I keep a close eye on my skin and went to the doc in the first place.





Does this mean that I have (or probably have) skin cancer?
Do I have skin cancer?
If the first biopsy looked unusual, this does not necessarily mean it was malignant, just not typical-looking. The doctors just want to be sure they are covering all the bases, so nothing falls through the cracks. Just go to the appointment, and if it is malignant, they will tell you.





Good luck!
Do I have skin cancer?
Probably not. Don't jump to any undesirable decisions before you meet with your doctor. If, worst case scenario, you do have cancer, it can still be cured if you took the right medications. Good Luck.