By adulthood, the average person has between 10 and 40 moles on their body. These small growths on the skin — which are usually round or oval in shape and pink, tan, brown or black in color — are very common and generally harmless.
But occasionally, an abnormal mole can be a sign of melanoma, a relatively rare but deadly form of skin cancer. So it’s crucial to know what to look for. (Non-melanoma skin cancers like basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas make up the majority of cases, but tend to be less aggressive.)
Melanoma can develop from an existing mole, but more commonly, it appears as a new lesion on the skin. It can appear anywhere on the body but the most common locations are the chest and back for men and legs for women.
The good news is that, when caught early, melanoma is typically curable, dermatologist Dr. Darrell S. Rigel told HuffPost.
“If it is caught early, a simple removal typically suffices to achieve a cure,” said Rigel, a clinical professor of dermatology and director of the Melanoma Surveillance Clinic at the Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine.
However, once it has spread, the survival rate for melanoma is less than 50% — even with some of the newly available treatments, Rigel explained, noting that this type of cancer “tends to spread early in its course.”
Certain factors may increase your risk of melanoma, including excessive sun exposure, use of indoor tanning beds, having atypical moles and having a family history of the disease. It’s also more common among people with fair skin that burns easily, red or blond hair and light-colored eyes.
People of color are much less likely to get melanoma than white people — but are more likely to die if they do get it, due to a lack of public and professional awareness. For those with darker skin tones, melanomas tend to show up in areas with less sun exposure like the palms of the hands, soles of the feet or beneath the fingernails or toenails.
How To Spot A Suspicious Mole
To help determine if your mole might actually be a cancerous melanoma, use the dermatologist-backed ABCDE rule, which stands for asymmetry, border, color, diameter and evolving.
If your mole fits one or more of the criteria below, make an appointment with your dermatologist to get it checked out. Don’t panic: Most atypical moles do not become cancerous. But it’s worth having any suspicious spots examined to be safe.
Asymmetry: If you were to draw a line down the center of the mole, one half wouldn’t match the other’s shape or size.
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/kelseyborresen/atypical-mole-dermatologist-7524422
