Concern for Melanoma

A teen female came to clinic for a routine skin check. When asked about a family history of skin cancer, she said “no” to both the staff and the dermatologist.

A full-body skin check was unremarkable. All of her moles were normal on exam. However, when looking at her PRO scores, her emotional Skindex score was the highest seen all day (higher scores are worse).

PRO – Dermatology Scores

Skindex-16 Emotions 48

Skindex-16 Symptoms 0

Skindex-16 Functioning 6

Based on the high emotional score, the dermatologist asked, “what’s bothering you about your skin?” Only then did the patient admit that her grandfather had recently died of metastatic melanoma, and the patient was convinced that the 3 benign moles on her abdomen were all melanoma.

The dermatologist was able to reassure the patient and provide education on what to look for when monitoring her moles. The patient left much happier than she would have had the dermatologist not seen her worry reflected in her PRO scores.