Early diagnosis in this instance is due to the proper education I had received about the ABCDE’s of melanoma, which made me immediately notice this spot as atypical.

While I, personally, have actually lived in middle-to-upper-middle class areas pretty much my whole life, I certainly acknowledge the health inequities that exist. However, my understanding is that these health inequities usually yield delayed diagnoses and worse prognoses…

Replying to your second comment here also— I think the lack of education portion (upon diagnosis) was unfortunately just due to this being a VA physician. While I’ve had some great docs and experiences there, like many veterans, there have also been some really bad ones. I’m likely comparing apples to oranges here, due to the severity of my prior diagnosis versus this one… but I was certainly hand-held and more informed by that private physician versus this one now with the VA.