Patient information · Dermatology
Mole checks and skin cancer
what to look for, and when to have it checked
Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the UK and among the most curable when caught early. Melanoma found at its earliest stage has a survival rate above 95%; found late it is a very different disease. The difference is usually a few months of noticing and acting.
Have a lesion checked promptly if it
- is changing in size, shape or colour over weeks or months
- is bleeding, crusting, itching or has become sore
- looks different from all your other moles — the ugly duckling sign
- is a new pigmented streak in a nail, or a new dark patch on a palm or sole
- is a sore that has not healed within four weeks
- is a pearly, waxy or scabbing lump that keeps bleeding and returning
Change is the single most important signal. A mole you have had all your life that has started behaving differently matters far more than an odd-looking mole that has been static for years.
The ABCDE rule
- A — Asymmetry. One half does not match the other.
- B — Border. Irregular, ragged, notched or blurred edges.
- C — Colour. More than one colour, or uneven distribution — brown, black, red, white or blue.
- D — Diameter. Larger than 6mm, though melanomas can be smaller.
- E — Evolving. Any change in size, shape, colour, elevation, or new symptoms. This is the most important letter.
The types worth recognising
- Melanoma — the least common but most dangerous. Usually a new or changing pigmented lesion. Can also appear as a nodule, sometimes red or skin-coloured rather than dark.
- Basal cell carcinoma — the commonest skin cancer. A slow-growing pearly or waxy lump, sometimes with visible small vessels, that scabs, bleeds and never quite heals. Rarely spreads but destroys tissue locally.
- Squamous cell carcinoma — a firm, scaly or crusted lump growing over weeks to months, often tender. Can spread if left.
- Actinic keratoses — rough, scaly patches on sun-exposed skin. Pre-cancerous and treatable.
Skin cancer on darker skin
It is less common but more often diagnosed late and has worse outcomes. It also tends to appear in different places — the palms, the soles, under the nails, and on non-sun-exposed sites. A new dark streak in a nail, or a changing patch on the sole, needs checking regardless of skin tone. Do not assume darker skin means you do not need to look.
Checking your own skin
- Once a month, in good light, with a full-length mirror and a hand mirror.
- Work systematically — face and neck, scalp (use a comb to part hair), front and back of torso, both sides, arms and armpits, hands including between fingers and under nails.
- Do not skip the parts the sun does not reach — soles, between toes, the groin and buttocks.
- Photograph anything you are watching, with a ruler or coin for scale, and compare after three months.
- Ask someone to check your back, which is where melanoma most often appears in men.
Who is at higher risk
- fair skin that burns easily, red or blonde hair, freckles, blue or green eyes
- many moles — more than 50 — or several unusual-looking ones
- a history of sunburn, particularly blistering burns in childhood
- sunbed use, which substantially increases melanoma risk, especially under 35
- a personal or family history of skin cancer
- immunosuppression, including after organ transplant
- outdoor work or extensive sun exposure
Book an appointment if you have a mole that has changed, a sore that will not heal, or you simply want your skin checked properly. Our dermatology team offers dermoscopic mole mapping and same-visit minor surgery for removal and biopsy where anything needs it.
Dermoscopic mole checks and same-visit removal
Seven days a week, 9am–7pm, on Whitechapel Road.
Tower Bridge Hospital London
97–99 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1DT
WhatsApp 07903 284 189
info@mhwclinic.co.uk
Open Mon–Sat, 9am–7pm (closed Sundays until September)
In an emergency
Call 999, or go to the Royal London Hospital Emergency Department, Whitechapel Road, London E1 1FR.
When we are closed and it is not an emergency
Call NHS 111 or visit 111.nhs.uk.