What Does Skin Cancer Look Like? {and what you need to know about melanoma}

Christine Wilson, cancer survivor, shares her experiences from the Abramson Cancer Center’s 2013- Focus Melanoma and CAN Prevent Skin Cancer Conferences. In this blog, she discusses "What Does Skin Cancer Look Like?" and melanoma prevention basics.

For most of the people attending Focus on Melanoma, the most important information pertains to advances in treatment, but for many others, it is critical to know how to prevent skin cancers and detect them early when they do occur.

Emily Chu, MD, PhD, noted that of the three most common types of skin cancer—basal cell,
squamous cell and melanoma—that melanoma is the least frequent but most dangerous. Over 80 percent of all melanomas are detected by either the patients themselves or their partners, which makes awareness of risk factors and warning signs very important.

Who is at risk for melanoma?

• Certain people are at greater risk for skin cancer and melanoma than others.
• Individuals who are fair skinned.
• Anyone with a first degree relative who has had a melanoma
• Anyone who has a personal history of melanoma
• People who have multiple moles—often in the hundreds
• People who have a history of blistering sunburns in childhood
• People who have a history of chronic sun exposure

While these factors may increase the risk of melanoma, it is also important to remember that anyone can get skin cancer, even dark skinned people of color, and that having a risk factor does not mean that you will get the disease.

What Does Skin Cancer Look Like?

Dr. Chu explained the ABCDE system that doctors commonly use to describe “worrisome” moles.

• A is for asymmetry. If you could fold the mole over on itself, the two halves would not be the same size or shape.
• B is for borders. Melanomas often have very irregular borders.
• C is for color. Melanomas are often darker than other moles and have different colors in different parts of the mole.
• D is for diameter. Melanomas are often—but not always—larger than other moles.
• E is for evolving. Melanomas often change their size or appearance.

Dr. Chu urged people, especially those with multiple moles, to “look for the ugly duckling,” the mole that is different or changes or is new.

She also encouraged people with large numbers of moles who might have difficulty detecting “ugly ducklings” to take advantage of whole body photography which can help document the moles that are present and increase the probability of finding new or evolving moles.

Breaking the Habit for Healthy Skin

Neal Nizman followed Dr. Chu’s talk by exploring the reasons why people don’t do the things that they know will reduce their chance of getting skin cancer.

These include:

• Checking your skin once a month
• Seeing a dermatologist annually
• Using sunscreen—enough, the right kind and often enough—to be effective
• Wearing protective clothing

The answers are relatively simple. Humans are creatures of habit. We are moving too fast, or are too busy to take even simple precautions. We don’t think that bad things will happen to us. When it comes to preventing and detecting melanoma, however, it pays to be a little more mindful and take the extra precautions. The best approach to melanoma is prevention—and the most effective treatment when it does occur is for early disease.

NOTE: To be effective, sunscreens should be broad spectrum, at least SPF 15 and waterproof. It also needs to be applied to all exposed areas of the skin and repeated approximately every two hours or after swimming.

Follow us on Twitter at @PennMedicine and tell us what you’re doing to protect your skin this summer!