What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Skin Cancer?

If a spot on your skin looks suspicious to you, there’s one cardinal rule: Get to a doctor to have it checked out. That’s because all three of the most common skin cancers — including the most dangerous, melanoma — are 99 percent curable if diagnosed and removed early, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation (SCF). (1)

That’s why a regular regimen of self-checks, as well as establishing a relationship with a dermatologist, is important in spotting skin cancer symptoms and treating skin cancer early and effectively.

The SCF recommends scheduling an appointment once a year with a dermatologist for a full-body skin check to screen for skin cancer. (2)

The SCF recommends that people conduct skin self-exams at least once a month — or more if you have risk factors such as an inherited gene that predisposes toward skin cancer, or if you have spent a lot of time in the sun. (2)

This check, which should be done in a well-lit room with a floor-length mirror and a hand mirror, should not take long once you get the hang of it.

You’ll need to examine every inch of your skin, from your scalp (using a blow dryer to lift hair away if necessary) to the bottoms of your feet and nails. A self-exam body map can help keep track of what’s normal for you and what’s not. (2)

The more often you do these self-exams, the more familiar you will be with every freckle, mole, sore, lump, and blemish on your body and the better you will be at recognizing potential trouble in the form of new markings or changes in the size, shape, or color of existing spots.

Overall, here’s the bottom line on what you should be looking for, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD): a mole or skin lesion that changes in size, shape, or color, as well as spots that itch or bleed. (3) Also watch for a new growth or a sore that doesn’t heal.

Knowing your body and all of its unique spots is the first step in knowing what to look for when it comes to early signs and symptoms of skin cancer.

Basal cell cancer (BCC) tends to develop on parts of the body that get a lot of sun exposure, like the face, head, and neck, but they can appear anywhere.

Some are flat and look a lot like normal skin. Others have more distinctive characteristics, says the American Cancer Society (ACS), including: (4)

Flat, firm, pale, or yellow areas that resemble a scar
Raised, reddish patches of skin that might be itchy or irritated
Small bumps that might be pink, red, pearly translucent, or shiny, possibly with areas of blue, brown, or black
Pink growths with slightly raised edges and an indentation in the center; tiny blood vessels might run through it like the spokes of a wheel
Open sores, possibly with oozing or crusted areas, that don’t heal or that go through cycles of healing and bleeding
Delicate areas that bleed easily. For instance, having a sore or cut from shaving that lingers longer than one week.

These slow-growing skin cancers can be easy to ignore unless they become big and begin to itch, bleed, or even hurt, according to the ACS.

Like basal cell cancer, squamous cell cancer (SCC) tends to develop on parts of the body that get a lot of sun, such as the face, neck, ear, lip, and back of the hands. (5)

It might also appear in scars or skin sores anywhere on the body. (5)

While squamous cell carcinoma can look like a flat area closely resembling healthy skin, there may be clearer signs of malignancy, according to the SCF, including:

Rough or scaly red patches that may bleed or crust
Raised growths or lumps, sometimes with a depression in the center
Open sores, possibly with oozing or crusted areas, that don’t heal or that go through cycles of healing and bleeding
Growths that resemble warts

Certain skin conditions may be precursors to squamous cell carcinoma, or even early forms of it: (6)

Having a history of genital warts is a risk factor for an SCC in the genital area, notes Harvard Medical School. (7)
Actinic keratosis can look like small, crusty, or scaly lesions that range in size from a teeny spot to lumps that are more than 1 inch wide. The base can be dark or light skin-colored, and there may be other colors as well, including tan, pink, and red. (8)
A variant of actinic keratosis called actinic cheilitis affects the lower lip and may lead to chapping, cracks, and white discoloration. (8)
Leukoplakia causes white patches on the tongue, gums, cheeks, and other mucous membranes of the mouth. (8)
A persistent red-brown, scaly, eczema-like patch on sun-exposed areas of the skin, the mucous membranes of the nose or mouth, or the genitals could be a sign of Bowen’s disease. (8)

Melanoma can develop anywhere on the skin but is more likely to start on the chest and back in men and on the legs in women. (9)

Black Americans are significantly less likely to get skin cancer than whites, but when they do develop melanoma, they are more likely to develop it on the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, or underneath the nails.

Most melanoma cells still produce the pigment melanin, so they are often tan, black, or brown, but they can also contain colors of red, white, and blue, says the American Academy of Dermatology Association (AAD). (10)

The most basic way to spot a possible malignancy is to use the “ugly duckling” approach. (11) Ask yourself whether any spot looks different than all the other ones around it — it might be larger and darker, for instance, or it might be a small red mole surrounded by bigger brown moles.

The ABCDE system is another way to assess whether a mole or other spot is worrisome. ABCDE is an acronym, the individual letters of which each stand for a warning sign of melanoma: (11)

A is for asymmetry. One half does not match the other.
B is for border. Edges are scalloped or notched.
C is for color. There are several different shades of brown, tan, or black, or colors like red, blue, or white.
D is for diameter. The spot is bigger than the eraser on a pencil, about 1/4 inch (although a malignant spot can be smaller if caught early).
E is for evolving. There are changes in size, color, shape, or elevation.

Some melanomas don’t neatly fit into the ABCDE categories, says the ACS. (11) Other danger signs also include:

A sore that does not heal
Spread of pigment from the border of a spot into the skin around it
Redness or a new swelling beyond the border of the spot
Change in sensation, such as itchiness, tenderness, or pain
Change in the mole’s surface: oozing, bleeding, scaliness, or the appearance of a bump or lump

Additional reporting by Jessica Migala.

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