Mole suddenly itchy-- but otherwise normal... what to do?

[jeninejessica]

My doctors office is on lunch break right now... so I'm killin time until I can call later on today...

I have tons of moles, all over my body. I have them checked quickly every year when I have my physical, and I've never had any issues with any of them. They are almost exclusively all the same color, all circular, about half are raised, but always always with a very defined border. They don't appear to grow, or change shape, etc etc, you get the picture.

Yesterday I noticed that one on my side started getting itchy, and it has progressively gotten worse and worse (itchiness) since then. At work today I was scratching pretty much every five minutes. It's just above my bra line, so it's possible that it's being irritated-- but it never has been before, so that seems odd.

It doesn't appear to have changed at all, and it's like the others-- completely within all descriptions of 'normal'. Should I be worried? I always feel silly calling the office and attempting to describe things to the nurses because I know they can't technically tell me yes or no to be worried, just that if I am, I should come in to get it checked. le sigh.

I did lay out in the sun last weekend sans sunscreen, but it wasn't really all that hot, I didn't even get a tan.

[amcal]

I had melanoma last year and what they told me constantly is that if you have anything that is new, different, changing in feel, appearance, size etc.... get it checked. So yes, you might need to get your mole checked.

However, it's only been one day. It could just be irritated. I'd try putting a cortisone or benedryl cream on it first and seeing if that helps but, if it continues to be itchy after a week or so, I'd get it checked.

Oh and I'm going to say this and I hope you take this in the spirit in which I mean it but, laying out is a really, really bad idea. I don't care that you didn't even get a tan. If you lay out in the sun without sun protection, you run the risk of damaging your skin. I'm not talking about the 10 or so minutes a day they recommend for vitamin D. That's different.

If you lay out with the hopes of tanning you are damaging your skin. A tan is damaged skin. A tan means you've allowed UV rays to deeply penetrate your skin. It's damaged skin. A tan is not healthy.

I never laid out, I never tanned but, I had a couple burns as a child. And I've paid for it in the terror of cancer. I have young children. It's just not worth it. Please, please don't lay out. Don't tan your skin. You're damaging your skin and increasing your chances of cancer.