Hi everyone -- My son is 15 and has been on Remicade for 5 years. I have noticed quite a few new, mole-like freckles on his face, neck, and arms. Has anyone else noticed these cropping up on their kids? Apparently, there is an association between melanoma and Remicade...wondering if what I'm seeing is related to skin-related side effects...
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Remicade and Moles?
- Thread starter CDx2
- Start date
I know I developed a lot of moles in my teenage years, so it might just be growing up and skin changing. I would get a trustworthy Derm to track it. I grew up in FL, and am super super fair skinned, and have had so many severe sunburns (2nd degree burns when I was 6) that I went to a derm in highschool who told me I definitely needed to be kept an eye on for the rest of my life. Now that I'm on Remicade, I'll have to start going pretty regularly.
By trustworthy I mean not knife-happy. I've been to some that want to cut out and biopsy pretty much all moles, which sounds good in theory but often isn't necessary unless it is a really really malicious looking mole. A good one will be receptive to wanting to wait a bit or receptive to some back-and-forth before deciding what to do, some derms even take pictures of questionable moles to refer to at a later date to see if they've changed. Obviously some will eventually need to be biopsied but I have awful scars on my back from having some done by a doctor who I think ordered them on everyone that came in (he later lost his license). Wish I had known to question him at that age, but I didn't.
Good luck!
By trustworthy I mean not knife-happy. I've been to some that want to cut out and biopsy pretty much all moles, which sounds good in theory but often isn't necessary unless it is a really really malicious looking mole. A good one will be receptive to wanting to wait a bit or receptive to some back-and-forth before deciding what to do, some derms even take pictures of questionable moles to refer to at a later date to see if they've changed. Obviously some will eventually need to be biopsied but I have awful scars on my back from having some done by a doctor who I think ordered them on everyone that came in (he later lost his license). Wish I had known to question him at that age, but I didn't.
Good luck!