Examining Your Moles

Summary

Examining your moles every four months can save your life by detecting a malignant melanoma (mole cancer) while it can still be cured.

Why Should You Examine Your Moles Regularly?

Ideally, a Malignant Melanoma should be found and removed surgically while it is still flat. Once it becomes raised, removing it may not cure it because it may already have spread to other parts of the body.

Who Should Examine Their Moles Regularly?

Ideally, everyone. However, the people who are more prone to melanoma: have lived in a country with strong sunshine before fifteen years of age; or/and have red or blonde hair; or/and have more than 100 moles: or/and have a sibling or parent who has had a melanoma.

How To Recognise An Early Malignant Melanoma?

Examine your moles once every four months using these guidelines.
Ignore all brown marks that are less than 4mm in diameter or are raised above the skin surface and are not itching, bleeding or growing.
Carefully examine all flat brown marks more than 4mm in diameter. If they have an irregular outline and contain more than two shades of brown, seek help.

What To Do If You Think You Have A Malignant Melanoma?

In the UK, you should consult your GP. Your GP may refer you to an NHS two week wait skin cancer screening clinic, if there is any suspicion that the mole is a Malignant Melanoma. If the mole continues to change after it has been diagnosed as "innocent" by the screening clinic, go back to your GP again. Some early melanomas can be impossible to recognise in the very early stages of their development and some previously "innocent" moles can turn cancerous later.

How Can Malignant Melanoma Be Prevented?

Wearing sunscreens during the first fifteen years of life will probably reduce the chance of developing a Malignant Melanoma. Otherwise four monthly examination of your moles is the best policy.

Is Mole Mapping Worthwhile?

There is no research showing that Mole Mapping is worthwhile or matches the skill of a specialist who has spent several years working in a skin cancer screening clinic. Furthermore, many Mole Mapping machines in the UK are run by people who neither have the experience or skill to know which moles to map nor can tell if the machine is making a mistake.