Doing regular self-checks on your skin is important to find skin cancer early. If you're high-risk, it’s especially vital.
Dr. Cecilia Larocca, a dermatologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, recommends looking at your skin once a month for anything suspiciousand using the acronym ABCDE as a checklist:
- Asymmetrical moles: If you drew a line straight down the center of the mole, would the sides match? If not, your mole is considered asymmetrical
- Borders: The edges of your mole look irregular, jagged, or uneven; can also stand for bleeding
- Colors: Multiple distinct colors in the mole, including patches of pink, brown, grey, and blackbut could be any color
- Diameter: Larger than 6mm, about the size of a pencil head eraser
- Evolution: Anything that’s changing over time such as gaining color, losing color, pain, itching, changing shape, etc…
Dr. Larocca emphasizes that any mole that’s changing in appearance or causing symptoms should be looked at by a dermatologist as soon as possible. Black moles of any kind are also at high risk for melanoma.
If you notice any of these changes, see your dermatologist for a full skin assessment. Early detection of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, improves your chances for successful treatment.
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