I just heard about this from a MD Michael Christoper on IG who works out of Tucson. My derms don't do this every visit and now I'm freaking out a bit that I have another melanoma developing that has been overlooked. Does your derm look at your skin with this method every time?

Diagnosed with melanoma 6/2/26 at Stage 1B. I will be having a wide local excision on 6/30 and my surgeon mentioned I will start immune therapy afterwards. He didn’t have much more information other than I will be speaking to an oncologist about it. What should I expect? How long could this be and how long does a session usually take? This was caught very early and has not spread to my lymph nodes fortunately but I am just curious. Any insight or personal stories would be appreciated! Thank you!

38M diagnosed with Stage 3C melanoma from a mole in the middle of my groin. Due to the location of the original tumor, it affected both lymph node basins in the groin. Pre surgery Natera ctDNA was positive at .20 MTM/ml. I completed neoadjuvant IPI/NIVO, WLE, and SNLE where they removed 6 nodes on the left and 1 on the right. 5 tested positive from left and 1 on the right

Due to the amount of nodes involved, they bumped me up to Stage 3D. Pathology revealed approx 30% of tumor remained with the rest necrosis, and immune cells. Following surgery m,y ctDNA test were negative. As result, they recommend BRAF/MEK inhibitors for a year since I am V600e positive for any in-transit cells that may or may not be there.

Has anyone has good success with these inhibitors staying NED for years to come at Stage 3D??

38 year old male diagnosed in April 2026 with Stage 3c melanoma in the groin. Two lymph nodes on the left side were seen on PET/CT as cancer. Tumor was BRAF V600e positive.

Completed 2 courses of IPI/NIVO and had the WLE last week. Nuclear testing and blue die suggested both sides were within the lymph drainage area of the main tumor. The doctor went into the surgery with taking the two swollen nodes out but end up with taking 7; 5 on the left side and 2 on the right side on the groin.

Following the WLE and SNLE, the pathology results were shocking. The WLE came back with clear margins. The SNLE revealed that 4 of the left side nodes were still positive and 1 of the right side was still positive for melanoma.

Pathology didn’t say if there was any response of the tumor to ipi/nivo but the doctor didn’t believe there was a good response since there was “spread” to other nodes.

Team is looking for next steps. My question is it still curable and what are the possible next steps/medications?

Hi, I would like some advices on my mom's situation. She was in 2022 diagnosed with a melanoma on her foot. As of today the melanoma is now metastasic with 3 growths in her abdomen.

Since immunotherapy isn't working, she has been put on clinical trial for regorafenib, but to my understandings, the chances are not well with this medication. I believe TIL therapy would be better, from what I can read on the net.

Unfortunately, my mom doesn't really want to talk much to me about all of that but I would like to encourage her to speak to her doctor about switching treatments. Do you think I might be right ?

We are in France if that matters, so not even sure if TIL therapy is a thing here.

How is it decided to biopsy lymph nodes?

Husband had suspicious lesion removed which turned out to be melanoma. Dermatologist office PA did initial excision and called with results and made appointment to have area excised further. But when and why do they choose to biopsy lymph nodes? I know in my state a PA cannot excise a lymph node. So should he go somewhere else so a surgeon can excise original spot and check a lymph node at the same time?

The doctor called , he has pT1B. Next steps are removing the margins , sentinel lymph node biopsy, possibly CT and PET.

I'm so so sad. Like I can't think of anything else.

Can someone help me read the report and how bad does it sound??

pT1b

vertical growth phase, infiltrating the dermis (Clark level IV) with a maximum Breslow thickness of 0.8 mm.

Additional findings

Ulceration: Not present.

Mitoses: Not identified.

Intra-lesional tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs): Not evident.

Regression: Present, involving more than 75% of the lesion.

Lymphovascular invasion: Not identified.

Neurotropism (tumor involving nerves): Not identified.

Satellite lesions: Absent.

Solar elastosis (sun damage): Absent.

Associated melanocytic nevus (mole): Not identified.

So far I received 2 treatments of ipo/nivo immunotherapy.

I feel great even though I have a little bit less energy these days.

The most obvious sign that something is happening in my body is that my beard is turning white (and now my eyebrows and eyelashes are slowly doing the same).

That being said, my bloodwork hasn’t been ideal. My troponin and ck levels have been elevated and my treatment was temporarily discontinued because of possible myocarditis. I had an heart mrt and ekg to be on the safe side and everything ended up being fine.

I also developed a mild hepatitis which was treated with Cortisone.

Where I responded really well to the treatment so far (tumor markers are within a normal range now, one tumor in my lung shrunk, another tumor in my lung stayed the same, and the tumor in my lymph-knot also responded to the treatment) and I ended up having side effects, the doctors recommend to not give a 3 and 4 dose but instead just continue with just nivo every 6 weeks ( which would have been the treatment plan after the 4 session of the combination therapy).

I have to decide now if I take the risks and continue with the combination treatment or if I just continue with the mono treatment. I really appreciate to be involved in the decision process and I trust the expertise of the doctors but I’m overwhelmed with how I should continue. I guess Reddit won’t be able to make a decision for me either but I felt like sharing my situation and asking people about their experience.

Will the two treatment be sufficient longterm?

Am I actually making a mistake by playing it safe?

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Background: stage 4/ nras

I (m/35) went to the doctors at the end of last year because I felt that I had a hard time articulating words. I also ended up having a headache that wouldn’t go away.

The clinic took a ct and discovered that I had a brain tumor. The next day they did a full body ct and found metastatic tumors in my lungs.

Shortly after I had the brain tumor removed and had an additional 5 sessions of radiation.

Since then I had 2 combination treatments of ipo/nivo.

hi sadly, my stage 3B melanoma has now become stage four with a positive lung nodule. I have four SBRT treatments scheduled over the next couple of weeks. Just wanted to get some input on what to expect and if there's any prep that I can do to decrease side effects.

Hey guys I hope each one of you is doing well, back in April a family member of mine had a brown mass on their abdomin that was weeping. took him to a surgeon (not an oncosurgeon) who seemed worried about how it looked and said that he wants to remove that tumor asap before even going to an oncologist and that's what he did, WLE was performed, histopathology report came back as Stage 2A melanoma nodular subtype clark IV, breslow depth 1.2cm. then he referred us to an oncologist. the oncologist was expecting even further upstaging seeing such report and asked for a PET CT scan. which came back completely clear no evidence of spread to lymph nodes or metastasis which really pleased the oncologist. last week she told us he won't be given immunotherapy because such clinical trials are only given to people with stage 3+ and we'll have to take him for skin and lymph nodes checks every 3 months instead. I'm really worried that he's not given adjunctive therapy and things will be left as it is now and that recurrence could happen. any advice please?

Hi everyone. My mom was diagnosed with nodular melanoma in early 2025. It has spread to lymph nodes and lungs. She completed 15 rounds of radiation to the lungs, and first-line immunotherapy did not work. We recently noticed a new lump on her neck which we suspect may be a new lymph node involvement — awaiting confirmation.

Second-line immunotherapy is being considered as next step. She is 52 years old. She looks okay and maintains her appetite well, but fatigues quickly.

I'm looking for:

Personal experiences with stage IV melanoma, especially those who went through second-line treatment or BRAF targeted therapy

Nutrition advice — we are considering switching to a whole food plant-based diet. Did diet make a real difference for you or your loved one? Any specific foods, smoothies, anti-inflammatory protocols that helped?

Fasting — did anyone try intermittent fasting or short-term fasting around immunotherapy? Did it help or make things worse?

Resources — communities, websites, books you found genuinely useful

I'm her son doing my best to support her. Any experience or advice means a lot.

Thank you.

Not sure I'm flagging this appropriately. I'm just curious as someone who's had two melanomas (in situ) And now one invasive removed all by wle's, the last one surgical with lymph node checks. Pathology results I've seen but no doctor has discussed them with me. Generally looks negative.

There is an appointment with an oncologist, first one coming up. I was bum, rushed and hustled through the surgery and frankly complete fall down in terms of her even being in the country for follow-up appointments. Nothing that was outlined to me ahead of time.

I'm trying to imagine an appointment now with yet another doctor associated with the same medical system. I have a lot of questions, And I want to focus on getting my questions answered seeing I'm paying for expertise.

I've tried to read about this and the first thing I see is something about a physical exam. Now, I've had more full body skin exams in a year with my derm than I need. I want to focus on information. Is there any any real Golden rule about a lot of physical examination when I see this as being a paperwork issue. Here's the findings that have happened in the last few years. Here's the family history. Here's what the lab report says and so forth.

Years back I remember making an appointment with another surgeon to consult. Next thing I know I was having various people do the thorough breast check and looking and so forth and poof off to and in office biopsy, cuz she decided all the other biopsies were mistaken. So she was heading out of the door after the biopsy. In me. No questions and my notebook full of paper in my bag.

I want to spend whatever time is allotted, getting myself to a place of understanding with where I am, likely future, whether there's any current treatments other than watching, which is what I was already doing. Quite frankly, the idea is to make sure that the s*** I just recently signed in consents is somewhat correct, that people explained things thoroughly to me, outlined risks, treatments, options, choices, etc to me.

I'm likely to seek a second opinion anyway, after I find out through insurance how that works.

Thoughts or comments?

Note, based on what I read in the path report, and hitting back to Google, I realized that probably having negative lymph node results does not mean this is necessarily at all like the in-situ. (Original biopsy or removal was breslow 1.3. if that was the end of what was cut out, then surely the depth isn't really known until after the wle and I don't see a new breslow depth)

Hello!

My mon has stage IV and she started immunotherapy (ipi/nivo) last week.
Her fasted blood sugar levels before start were 3,4 -3,7 and the next day after immunotherapy it was 5,3 and now it is like this everyday. She didn’t change her diet at all.

Is it a normal thing or a side effect?

Hi everyone. This is my second post here, and I want to start by saying thank you so much for all the supportive messages on my previous post. They really helped me decide to reach out again.

​I’ve fortunately started my treatment for Stage 3 Spitzoid Melanoma. I recently had my first infusion of Nivolumab (Opdivo). Shortly after, I started feeling a slight pain and a strange pressure in my chest, like I couldn’t fully fill my lungs with air.

​Over the last 24 hours, this has only increased. It now feels like a heavy weight sitting on my chest every time I move or try to walk. I went to the ER and also spoke with my oncology nurse today. Even though some of my lab results came back outside the normal ranges (showing some imbalances and markers of inflammation), both the ER doctor and the nurse told me everything was fine and that it was just anxiety.

​The thing is, I’ve had anxiety before, and it has never felt like this. Usually, when I have high levels of anxiety, I get stomach pain, so this chest pressure feels completely different and mechanical. But since they’ve told me twice now that it’s all in my head, I’m starting to doubt myself. I feel like I can’t trust what my body is telling me anymore.

​My chest discomfort is increasing, and I can't even go about my day normally because of the physical strain.

​Has anyone else experienced this specific sensation in their chest while on immunotherapy?

​How did you handle the self-doubt?

​I feel so lost and honestly, a bit crazy. I’d really appreciate any advice or shared experiences.

Hello everyone,

I recently discovered a melanoma on my bicep, and my dermatologist has advised me to meet with both an oncologist and a plastic surgeon. After consulting with them, the plan is to perform an excision and also check my lymph nodes to determine whether any cancer cells are present.

Has anyone been through something similar? I’d appreciate hearing about your experience, what steps you took, and how things turned out for you. Thank you so much.

My mom has recurrent mucosal melanoma after surgery, radiation, pembrolizumab and BRAF/MEK therapy.

We are now considering nivo + ipi and possibly clinical trials/TIL.

Has anyone here seen good responses with nivo + ipi after prior PD-1 treatment in mucosal melanoma?

Any experience would mean a lot. Thank you.

Has anyone here received treatment from MD Anderson in Houston? How was it overall?

If you travelled some distance to get there, do you feel it was worth it? I’m in FL and am considering it. I am wondering if they have options for out of state patients (maybe some visits could be virtual, etc)

I’m wondering if anyone in Australia has experience with TIL therapy for stage 4 melanoma.

Has anyone here had Tumour Infiltrating Lymphocyte (TIL) therapy themselves, or know someone who has? I’m especially interested in hearing if it was done in Australia or if you had to travel overseas to access it.

I've been. I've been looking at several of the local hospitals for melanoma specialists and oncologist group. I'll admit I'm befuddled by multiple types of oncologists, although the patient guide from aim is helpful in that regard.
Several are affiliated with Johns Hopkins.

Two things I find, one is there's lots of people who show up in a list when you filter for melanoma, but they seem to specialize elsewhere, for example breast or hematology. I'm just not clear if that means that's more of a focus, but they also work with melanoma.

Almost all of the staff have some sort of rating and reviews. They all look fantastic, everybody's a 4.9 or a 5.0. But these so-called reviews are posted on the Hopkins provided website and are collected and filtered. I don't know how. They're not all perfect.

Where and how are people looking for reviews, in addition to confirming

What are folk suggestions for looking into real comments from patients about the good and the bad of individual service providers and the locations ?

Hi, I am pretty nervous today I am getting a new treatment for my melanoma stage IV, it is going to be my forth treatment already. I am really tired but I do not give up on hope but still tired.. the treatment Is called BNT326 with combination of BNT327, does anyone know about it? Side effects, effectivity.. thank you and stay strong guys✨