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Dr Daniel Glass
The Dermatology Clinic London
What are the common signs of skin cancer?
Dr. Daniel Glass advises on signs of skin cancer to watch out for. For Basal Cell Carcinoma,look out for a pearly bump on the skin or ulcerated skin. For Squamous Cell Carcinoma, look out for a crusty lump on the skin that grows rapidly. For melanoma, look out for moles that change over time.
Transcript
Different skin cancers can appear in different ways, and melanocyte skin cancer and melanoma can appear as a pigmented lesion. And it's very important, when you're looking at pigmented lesions, to look at the symmetry of the pigmented lesion, look at the border, see if that's symmetrical, look at the colour and make sure that's uniform, and look at the diameter and be more concerned about larger lesions, more than six or seven millimetres. One of the most important signs is evolution. So, is the lesion that you're examining changing? Do you have a record of it, a photograph of it a year or two ago? Has it changed dramatically since then? If that's the case, then you should seek an opinion from your GP, and if they're concerned, they should refer you to a dermatologist. Keratinocyte skin cancers, like basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas may not appear as a pigmented lesion, they may appear as a red lump on the skin or even a red, flat, scaly mark on the skin. And I tend to tell my patients, if they have an area of skin that doesn't heal for four to six weeks and is symptomatic in any way, either itching or bleeding or weeping, then they should seek an opinion from the doctor.