Significant Features
People who regularly check moles on their skin may have a lower risk of developing advanced melanoma, but people should not panic over every skin irregularity. A doctor should examine any suspicious lesion with one or more of the features discussed below or that changes noticeably in size, color, or shape. Itching, tenderness, scaling, bleeding, crusting, or sores can signal potentially cancerous changes in any mole.
A mnemonic device, ABCDE, is used to describe several features that help to distinguish melanomas from noncancerous growths:
- Asymmetry (A). About half the time, a melanoma develops in an existing mole; in other cases, it arises as a new lesion that can resemble an ordinary mole. A noncancerous mole, however, is generally symmetric and circular in shape, while melanoma usually grows in an irregular, asymmetric fashion.
- Border Irregularity (B). Benign lesions generally have clearly defined borders that mark the boundary between mole and skin. A melanoma, in contrast, often has notched or indistinct borders that may signal ongoing growth and spread of the cancer.
- Color Variation (C). One of the earliest signs of melanoma may be the appearance of various colors within the lesion. Because melanomas arise within pigment-forming cells, they are often varicolored lesions of tan, dark brown, or black, reflecting the production of melanin pigment at different depths within the skin. Occasionally, lesions are flesh colored or surrounded by redness or lighter areas of depigmentation. Pink or red areas may result from inflammation of blood vessels within the skin; blue areas reflect pigment in the deeper layers of the skin; and white areas can arise from dead cancerous tissue.
- Diameter (D). A diameter of 6 millimeters or larger (about the size of a pencil eraser) is worrisome. Melanomas start out small; by the time a lesion has grown this large, other abnormalities will most likely be present. No matter what size, a doctor should examine any suspicious lesion.
- Evolution (E). A lesion that is growing or changing deserves evaluation.
Previous Section
