I have a painless small raised lump on my arm. What is it?

Hello,

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I have seen your photos (attachments removed to protect patient identity).

It is a small reddish papule. Since how long have you had this? Is it painful?

This could be either of these.

• Insect bite reaction or small lipoma.
• Mastocytoma (mast cell tumor) or melanoma.

Many other differential diagnoses are there. Being an experienced dermatologist, I want to assure you that no doctor can diagnose it without doing a biopsy or FNAC (fine-needle aspiration cytology). As I told there could be many differential diagnoses of it, so duration also is an important factor.

If duration is about three to five days, then more chance of any insect bite (which is very common). But, ultimate tool to identify it is by biopsy or FNAC only. So, I suggest you to go undergo this test procedure to clear it.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

You told it is totally symptomless. So, it goes in favor of granuloma or lipoma. Both the conditions are symptomless and both grow slowly, gradually and increase in size. That is good you are going to general practitioner (GP). According to me, you must have to undergo biopsy to identify it. You do not need to worry as it is not a dangerous condition. As per my experience, I would keep my provisional diagnosis as granuloma but biopsy is a must.