My Melanoma Story: The Spot That Changed Everything

In March 2025, I scheduled a dermatology appointment because of a mole on my right thigh that concerned me.

It checked all the boxes in my mind. Something about it just didn't look right.

When I was finally seen in July, the dermatologist wasn't concerned about the spot on my thigh. Instead, they wanted to biopsy a spot on my lower abdomen that had never worried me.

Because it was summer and I wouldn't be able to surf for a couple of weeks after the biopsy, I decided to wait.

In December, I saw a different dermatologist.

This time I was very specific.

“The real reason I am here is this spot on my thigh.”

She biopsied both spots.

The one on my stomach was benign.

The one on my thigh was melanoma.

The Spot I Couldn't Ignore

I still think about what could have happened if I had simply followed through with the original biopsy.

The spot on my stomach would have come back benign. I might have walked away thinking I was cancer-free while the melanoma on my thigh remained there.

That's probably the part of this story that stays with me the most.

I knew something about that spot wasn't right.

I'm glad I kept asking.

A Small Mole. A Much Bigger Scar.

The surgery surprised me.

The mole itself was small, but removing melanoma isn't just about removing what you can see. Additional tissue around the melanoma needs to be removed to obtain clear margins.

So this tiny spot on my thigh left me with a much larger scar than I expected.

Fortunately, my margins came back clear.

Now I have skin checks every six months.

I thought that might be the end of my melanoma story.

It wasn't.

Then My Dad Was Diagnosed

After my diagnosis, my dad went in for a skin check.

His dermatologist had finished the exam when my stepmom mentioned that his daughter had recently been diagnosed with melanoma. She asked him to take another look at a few spots.

He reluctantly agreed to biopsy one on my dad's chest.

It was melanoma.

My dad had surgery, and thankfully, his margins were also clear.

Within months, both my dad and I had been diagnosed with melanoma.

Then, a few months later, melanoma hit even closer to home.

Then It Was One of My Closest Friends

In April, I was in Florida, enjoying the beach while also feeling slightly ridiculous about the amount of sunscreen I was putting on, when I learned that a close friend of mine had been diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma.

She was only 44.

The diagnosis finally explained several unusual hospitalizations she had been experiencing.

Suddenly, this felt very different.

This wasn't just about suspicious moles, biopsies and scars anymore.

It was Stage IV cancer happening to someone I love.

Melanoma became very real, very quickly.

I Grew Up in the '80s

Like a lot of people my age, my relationship with the sun looked very different growing up.

I grew up in Wisconsin in the '80s. We spent a ton of time outside. I definitely had my share of sunburns, and I can still remember my dad putting Noxzema on my skin afterward.

Sunscreens weren't what they are today, and we certainly didn't think about sun exposure the way we do now.

And I'm not going to pretend tanning beds weren't part of my story either.

Growing up in Wisconsin, tanning beds were common.

About 25 years ago, I became much more conscious about protecting my skin and using sunscreen consistently.

But unfortunately, we don't get to erase our earlier sun exposure just because we eventually got smarter.

Skin damage is cumulative, and some of the exposure that catches up with us may have happened decades earlier.

Even after years of being careful with my skin, I still became a melanoma patient.

From Provider to Patient

There is another part of this experience that has been especially humbling for me.

Throughout my career in medical aesthetics, I have noticed suspicious lesions on patients during appointments and referred them to dermatology.

In more than one case, those referrals resulted in a skin cancer diagnosis and potentially lifesaving treatment.

I have spent years telling other people:

“You need to get that checked.”

This time, I was the patient saying it.

And I had to say it more than once.

That experience changed something for me.

Advocating for yourself doesn't mean distrusting your medical providers or assuming every mole is melanoma. It means knowing your own body and paying attention when something looks different, changes or simply continues to concern you.

What I Hope You Take From My Story

Wear sunscreen.

Skip the tanning beds.

Get regular skin checks.

Pay attention to your own skin, including the places you don't normally see.

And if something concerns you, bring it up. If it continues to concern you, bring it up again.

My melanoma was small.

My scar is much bigger.

But I am incredibly grateful to have it.

Because the scar means it was found.

This time, I was the patient pushing for someone to listen.

And I am glad I did.

Laurie Peterson, RN, CANS

Aesthetic Nurse Injector | Carlsbad, California