CHECK YOUR OWN SKIN

Being familiar with your own skin will allow you to recognise changes early and act quickly. More than 50% of all melanomas are first discovered by the patient.

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Moles are harmless clusters of pigment cells(melanocytes) in the skin. Almost everyone has moles, and they usually appear on our body in our first 40 years of life. Moles can be flat or raised and can differ in colour, size, and shape.

Seventy percent of melanomas just turn up and 30% are from pre-existing moles. So, the majority of melanoma just come up unexpectedly. So, a new or changing lesion is important. The tricky thing is as you get older, you will develop lentigos, they look like flat brown patches on the skin from ageing and sun damage. Some of them change into a variable coloured often raised seborrheic keratosis, these are all benign but can be mimickers of a melanoma.

This is when a dermatoscopic examination comes into its own in helping us tell the difference.

Where to look:

Make sure you check your entire body, including skin that is not normally exposed to the sun.

Head, scalp, neck, and ears

Use a hand-held mirror or ask someone to check areas you cannot see easily.

Torso: front, back and sides

Check front, back, then right, and left sides with your arms raised.

Arms, hands, fingers, and nails

Look carefully at forearms and upper arms

Buttocks and legs

Check all sides from ankles to thighs

Feet

Check the soles, between your toes and on nailbeds.

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For men, the most common site of melanoma is the back

For women, the most common site of melanoma is the legs.

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