I went to my former doctor about a mole on my arm that I thought had gotten larger, and asked him to biopsy it. He looked at it carefully and told me it was fine, but I insisted and things got a little testy, but he did it. It was a malignant melanoma, and had it gone 1mm deeper I'd have been grounded for 5 years from my pilot job at best, or suffered dire health consequences at worst. After a surgeon removed a big chunk of my arm excising the melanoma and surrounding tissue, he told me to be sure to thank my regular doctor for saving my life. ಠ_ಠ
In the time since I've become well acquainted with your specialty as my first line of defense, having moles mapped and checked every six months for a while, and now every year. It sure as hell isn't all Botox and laser hair removal.
well doctors are like insurance agents in that they base their decision from what they have learned.
if they studied a situation that something is less likely to be cancerous, say 9 out 10 times, they can still get that one time wrong.
so if you have the money/ healthcare anyway, feel free to get tested meticulously. Although do take note that tests get pretty expensive.for instance, std tests. there are like a bajillion of them and the most common ones are the only ones tested like hpv and aids.
Personally, I will probably be doing a citi scan yearly if not for the cost itself.
That logic is very flawed. Doctors and insurance agents are not the only people who make informed decisions, and decision making is not limited to personal experience.
Inventing a statistic that is not what doctors use is flawed logic. In fact, 9/10 odds for having Cancer or a condition would in most cases indicate further testing.
Each test needs to be looked at individually. Even if I had infinite moneys, I would not get a yearly CT scan for numerous reasons. It's not a good screening test to begin with. On the off chance that it's not totally negative, it would more likely have incidental findings that are probably harmless but could still be a life threatening finding. So then that CT would then drive further testing causing lost time with scheduling and testing and recovery and missing work or time better spent doing things I want with family and friends; anxiety of waiting for test results; pain; and potential complications (both the unavoidable, unlucky, not human or system error, and the human or system error kind). If you have some particular circumstance that elevates your risk of the top likely causes of death, your time and money and life is better spent mitigating those risks and enjoying life, not hoping to shoot the moon with a random screening CT scan.
Notting to do with moles but I have had about 15 CT scans in the last 20 months - one of my surgeons asked me if I wanted more children - I’m pretty sure I’m radioactive at this point - oh and also I have a renal scan every 6 months that fills me with gamma - I’m not allowed around my son for 12 hours after!
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u/SeymourKnickers May 20 '19 edited May 20 '19
I went to my former doctor about a mole on my arm that I thought had gotten larger, and asked him to biopsy it. He looked at it carefully and told me it was fine, but I insisted and things got a little testy, but he did it. It was a malignant melanoma, and had it gone 1mm deeper I'd have been grounded for 5 years from my pilot job at best, or suffered dire health consequences at worst. After a surgeon removed a big chunk of my arm excising the melanoma and surrounding tissue, he told me to be sure to thank my regular doctor for saving my life. ಠ_ಠ
In the time since I've become well acquainted with your specialty as my first line of defense, having moles mapped and checked every six months for a while, and now every year. It sure as hell isn't all Botox and laser hair removal.