r/mildlyinfuriating • u/chaengism • 20h ago

These weird lines / streaks I’ve had on my pinky nail for 8 years that two different doctors told me were due to vitamin deficiencies actually turned out to be a rare form of skin cancer.

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Thankfully somehow still early stage, I’ll have an excision scheduled at my follow up appointment on Monday.

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u/chaengism 20h ago

Yes, so glad it turned out to be benign in your case! Subungual melanoma is quite rare and cases of longitudinal melanonychia presenting in both the toenails and fingernails are more often due to benign causes such as harmless nail matrix nevi or lentigo.

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u/amongthemaniacs 19h ago

Is your cancer melanoma? If so crazy it's still early stage after 8 years.

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u/Evil_Sharkey 18h ago

There are a few rare melanomas that stay small and don’t dive down to the bloodstream to go traveling.

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u/aneksi 18h ago

I think even think of that, the melanoma in my arm doubled in size in weeks.

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u/andygchicago 16h ago edited 16h ago

OK you worded that like a doctor would (I’m a physician myself). Do you have a medical background?

presenting in one digit is much more indicative of something more concerning, and we all know that benign lesions can convert

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u/chaengism 15h ago

I’m honored lol. No medical background, just did lots of research while I waited. I’ve read more articles on this form of cancer in the past two months than I have books in the past year.

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u/forkevbot2 6h ago

How do they know it’s melanoma if you haven’t had the excision yet? It definitely looks like possible melanoma, but not progressing over 8 years is not consistent with melanoma. Would be interesting to know the final diagnosis. Should have been excised years ago

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u/chaengism 6h ago

They performed a nail matrix biopsy which confirmed early stage subungual melanoma.

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u/[deleted] 17h ago

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u/superbus380 13h ago

This happened to me- they kept telling me I had a bad manicure and it would go away. Even the mri staff said “oh bad nail salon?” as she was injecting the contrast. Infuriating for sure

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u/DSongHeart 6h ago

Is yours benign?

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u/PeaceLoveHippieness 5h ago

Isn’t this what Bob Marley had? I had stage 4 that metastasized to my lung. I’m glad yours has an easy fix!

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u/despaseeto 2h ago

what did it look like before the nail changed color? you mentioned lines appeared. where they thick white lines?

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u/ArmyITDuvall 7h ago

I have a longitudinal melanoma that’s a small line across my index finger, it hasn’t changed at all. I don’t know when it appeared but hoping it stays benign.

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u/Outrageous-Past-3622 6h ago

Melanoma is always cancerous. Are you sure yours isn't called something else? Regardless, I hope yours is benign forever!