9. WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF MELANOMA?

A sign is anything that can be measured by a doctor or patient.  The major sign of a melanoma is a change in the appearance of a mole. 

To help identify a mole that maybe a melanoma it is recommended to have professional skin cancer checks on a regular basis.  Furthermore, it is imperative to maintain even more regular self skin cancer checks for example once every 3 months if there is a personal or family history of skin cancer and once every 6 months in absence of such a history. When conducting self skin cancer checks keep a look out for the following changes by using the ABCDE method as described on the Skin Cancer Foundations website at http://www.skincancer.org/:

• Asymmetry: Generally common moles are round and symmetrical. Melanomas however are not symmetrical (that is equal in shape, should an imaginary line divide them in half).
• Borders: The borders of melanomas are usually jagged, scalloped or notched and therefore are not like normal moles that commonly appear to have smooth edges.
• Colour: Non cancerous moles appear as being a single shade of tan or brown. However, melanomas have no uniformity in colour and can include, red, pink, black, dark brown and even blue.
• Diameter: Melanomas generally tend to grow larger than non cancerous moles and tend to be at least 6mm in diameter.  However smaller melanomas can occur, therefore it is imperative to look at all the ABCD's and not just diameter in identifying melanomas.
• Evolving: Keep an eye out for any mole that changes in size, shape, colour or elevation.  As this is a warning sign of melanoma11.