Look at your body fully naked after showering once every month or two.
Use a full length mirror to see your front side, and a hand held mirror to look at skin on your back side.
Melanoma can occur in places that have never seen the sun, so look everywhere.
* Melanoma in skin of color is more common on the hands and feet or on the nail beds!
* The most common location for melanoma in women is the legs, arms, and feet.
* The most common location for melanoma in men is the back. Men also have a higher risk of melanoma on the head and neck than women, and cancers at these sites tend to be more aggressive.
Melanoma is a skin cancer that can show up on the skin in many ways. It can look like a:
Changing mole
Spot that looks like a new mole, freckle, or age spot, but it looks different from the others on your skin
Spot that has a jagged border, more than one color, and is growing
Dome-shaped growth that feels firm and may look like a sore, which may bleed
Dark-brown or black vertical line beneath a fingernail or toenail
Band of darker skin around a fingernail or toenail
Slowly growing patch of thick skin that looks like a scar
To help people find a possible melanoma on their skin, dermatologists created the ABCDEs of melanoma:
A pink or brown bump, that is most often in sun exposed skin of face, back arms or chest, which has a “pearliness” to it, especially if the skin is stretched. The bump can bleed or have a vascular appearance, and may even look like a scar or crater.
A warty or crusty bump that can bleed or appear like a volcano crater on the skin of sun damaged face, hands, chest or arms. Sometimes these can appear ulcerated with rolled borders.
© 2023 Skin Cancer Risk Assessment. All right reserved.