Melanoma Warning Signs Explained
According to The Skin Cancer Foundation, the first five letters of the alphabet are a guide to help you recognize the warning signs of melanoma. A mole check is built around those signs, so this page orders your preparation around them.
Photos and dates to collect for a mole check
List the moles and spots that concern you, each with the date you first noticed it. Photograph them in the same light so any change is visible later. Read the ABCDEs of melanoma from the American Academy of Dermatology and mark which letters you think apply. Since this site works out of Merced and covers Madera County too, choose a clinic in that area you can return to for a follow-up look.
Risk, the ABCDE checklist, then treatment
- Who Faces Higher Melanoma Risk sets how closely you look.
- The ABCDE Rule for Moles gives you the checklist itself.
- How Melanoma Is Treated covers what follows a diagnosis.
Pair the second step with the skin cancer pictures page so the words in the checklist have a visual reference.
What the checklist fixes and what the clinician decides
The letters of the checklist are fixed wording you can read in advance. Whether a particular spot needs a closer look is a judgment made in person, and it is the part of the process that varies from one practitioner to the next.
Your risk or your spot: the guide that fits
If you have not yet thought about your own risk, begin with the first entry in the list above. If you have a spot in mind and a booking, open the second and take your photographs with you.