A perspective on the nature of medical advice:
There exist people who are so concerned about not dying that they would do anything in their power to survive medically, and organise for themselves regular irrelevant medical tests. They are probably over-medicated and wasting a lot of time. i.e. a brain scan for tumours (where no reason to think they exist is present).
There exist people who get yearly mammograms.
there exist people who probably get around to their (reccomended yearly) mammogram every few years.
There exist people who have heart attacks from long term lifestyle choices.
There exist people who are so not concerned about dying that they smoke.
This is the range of patients that exist. You sound like you are closer to the top in terms of medical concern. The dermatologist has to consider where on the spectrum you are when devising a treatment as well as where the condition is on the spectrum of risk.
For a rough estimate (not a doctor) I would say the chance of a cyst on your ear killing you in the next 50 years would be less than the chance of getting an entirely different kind of cancer and having it threaten your life. (do you eat burnt food? bowel cancer risk. Do you go in the sun? skin cancer risk)
If it can be removed by cream; it will still be gone. The specialist should suggest a biopsy to cover their ass, but really; it could be 99 different types of skin growths or few type of cancerous growth. With no other symptoms there is no reason to suspect any danger exists.
the numbers you suggested sound like they were fabricated when given to you. Which is a reason to not mathematically attack them; but take them on the feeling value of 99.99% thumbs up. (and its really hard and almost impossible to find 0.01% so medically we don’t usually bother)
A perspective on the nature of medical advice: There exist people who are so concerned about not dying that they would do anything in their power to survive medically, and organise for themselves regular irrelevant medical tests. They are probably over-medicated and wasting a lot of time. i.e. a brain scan for tumours (where no reason to think they exist is present). There exist people who get yearly mammograms. there exist people who probably get around to their (reccomended yearly) mammogram every few years. There exist people who have heart attacks from long term lifestyle choices. There exist people who are so not concerned about dying that they smoke.
This is the range of patients that exist. You sound like you are closer to the top in terms of medical concern. The dermatologist has to consider where on the spectrum you are when devising a treatment as well as where the condition is on the spectrum of risk.
For a rough estimate (not a doctor) I would say the chance of a cyst on your ear killing you in the next 50 years would be less than the chance of getting an entirely different kind of cancer and having it threaten your life. (do you eat burnt food? bowel cancer risk. Do you go in the sun? skin cancer risk)
If it can be removed by cream; it will still be gone. The specialist should suggest a biopsy to cover their ass, but really; it could be 99 different types of skin growths or few type of cancerous growth. With no other symptoms there is no reason to suspect any danger exists.
the numbers you suggested sound like they were fabricated when given to you. Which is a reason to not mathematically attack them; but take them on the feeling value of 99.99% thumbs up. (and its really hard and almost impossible to find 0.01% so medically we don’t usually bother)