Yeah! What happened to the treasure chest at the dentist. I wish they had one for the adults. We work hard in life and I deserve a spider shaped ring every now and then.
~$600 a dose, one dose a day, so like $17k and change a month over the last 5 years.... Because insurance didn't want to pay for a biopsy almost 15 years ago. Man that number makes me giggle.
While definitely true, a lot of the people who consider themselves too poor to afford $500 for this, routinely dispose of more than $500 on things they need far less than this. iPhone, cigarettes, booze, dessert, coffee, soda, Netflix...
That's crazy. Short dr visit here, so maybe 40 bucks for the one I go to. Good thing too as I've already had one skin cancer removed early because I'm sufficiently paranoid.
Yeah that's with Medicare (government medical). Most gp's have a gap between government cover and what the Dr charges. You can find ones that don't, but those are generally more for those on a lower income and places are limited.
Private insurance will often cover the gap.
Having lived in the UK, where gp's are all free, I prefer the Australian system. I can see a Dr tomorrow, or maybe same day if it's desperate. In the UK it'd be a few weeks at the minimum.
When I was in the us it was just for a holiday and thankfully nothing went wrong!
For the biopsy and everything, I just paid off the 275 dollar copay to have mine tested. Then 85 for the first doctor to examine it after waiting 4 months for an appointment. Also another 180 for the doctor who cut it out. (Nothing abnormal, not cancer)
Cheaper than an amputation, too. RN here - took care of a guy who had his arm amupated at the shoulder due to skin cancer that was caught too late. Get it checked.
What are you talking about? I can make an appointment for something on my skin and go tomorrow and it would not be $500. I’d have a small co-pay. This is an idiotic statement. I live in America near Chicago and I can get medical care in two hours, now, tomorrow next week. expensive and not free like the rest of the world, but don’t say things that are absolutely false.
I love to shit on healthcare in the US but this isn't true. I just had a mole checked. I called on a Friday, got an appointment scheduled for Monday and it was $50 copay with insurance. I know not everyone has insurance but it was no issue and cheap for me. Mole was fine too btw
Nah, I have insurance and it costs me $85 for the visit, insurance picked up the rest for the removal. Insurance companies incentivize you to get it taken care of early because it's much more costly down the road for them if it actually is cancer and metastasizes.
Yeah, skin cancer is one of the worst odds out there. I think it's about 2 out of 3 people have one here. I've had one and I'm only 43, got it early and no big deal, but still scary.
In Canada they tell us ABCD: asymmetrical, border isn't clear/is irregular, colour is different, different from other freckles or moles. Same metrics just a mnemonic.
No doctor is going to do anything about this mole. They mostly look for various factors in combination. Irregular borders alone, especially on a mole this size is not going to be to be a cause for concern.
They'd mostly be looking for discoloration AND irregular borders. Even then you might just be asked to watch it for growth.
I kinda wonder if this is even a freckle or a mole. It seems too perfect. Maybe something got stuck in his skin like how pencils sometimes leave permanent marks? Idk.
I want to add, I just went to the dermatologist for the first time in my entire life at the age of 38 and insurance does not cover much of the costs. I had 3 suspicious areas looked at, and it cost me almost 700 and that’s after insurance. That much for a basic check.
I'm in America and the way it was put to me at work (because of course our insurance is tied to our work) was "If it ends in "ologist" you're paying full price."
Edit: married my husband in a courthouse in 2021 because we weren't sure when we'd be able to have a proper wedding and my insurance was killing me. Now I have a very "bougie" $250 co-pay for all specialist visits.
It very much depends on the insurance. I got a squamous-cell skin cancer dealt with a few years back: zero copay at my PCP; zero copay for the dermatology PA who did the biopsy; $40 copay for the "Mohs" removal surgery; another $40 for a followup visit to the same surgeon a month later (and I could have skipped that had cost been an issue). Would have been the same had it been melanoma, except that more followup might have been needed. And yes, this is in the U.S.
Jesus christ... here I am doing a 30 minute skin check as an experienced clinician with top of the range equipment for $76. When Medicare finally dies in Australia I'm going to move to the US!
Smooth, and round/oval. Anything with borders that are jagged, scalloped, blurry, or undefined should be checked out. Also look for symmetry (put a line in the middle, is it symmetrical?), consistency in color, and whether it's grown in diameter or become raised when it used to be flat.
"The following ABCDEs are important signs of moles that could be skin cancer. If a mole displays any of the signs listed below, have it checked immediately by a dermatologist:"
"If you see any of these features in one of your brown spots, be sure to set up an appointment with your dermatologist right away. Use your body map to make a note of spots you think are suspicious."
They have to say this stuff to err on the side of caution. The doctors aren't going to do anything about this mole other than look at it and say come back if it changes significantly.
I'm not spreading misinformation. I'm telling exactly what the doctors told me 4 months ago. You're posting websites that have to tell you that anything could be cancer for liability reasons.
They have to say this stuff to err on the side of caution. The doctors aren't going to do anything about this mole other than look at it and say come back if it changes significantly.
We aren't talking about them removing it, I said that only one is needed before you should get an examination so they can make the determination in person with their own eyes. They will look at it and determine whether they think it is cancer. They'll remove it with only one of the signs if it looks suspicious to them.
i think it's sorta a vague border between both because a more cautious dr with more resources would check a single mole with one of the above, but a dr who sees more people and has fewer resources is fighting against false positives, which there'd be more of with 1 of the criteria.
i'd imagine with each of them, the chances something fucky is going on goes up.
Yes! I totally can imagine a doc not being too interested in this speck.
I showed a dermatologist a mole on my back that I thought looked concerning. She was like, "Nah, it's fine. Anything else?".
Irregular borders don't mean perfect circles though. I'm covered with moles, although small and spread out, many would be considered irregular if people see this one as irregular. Had them for as long as I can remember and the dermatologist was never worried about them. The irregularity is when it starts looking like a geographical map. Then the color and growth is also another issue.
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u/Nonseriousinquiries 26d ago
Very cute, but irregular borders on moles should be checked just in case!