Common Diagnosis
Skin Cancer

Skin cancer has become almost epidemic in the United States. It will be diagnosed in Americans this year more that all other cancers combined. The tragedy is that most of it can be prevented. It is important to know that skin cancer can be divided into two different categories; melanoma, and non-melanoma skin cancer.

Melanoma is the most aggressive and scariest form of skin cancer. Sunburns and excessive sun exposure and use of tanning beds increases the risk of this skin cancer, but a family history is also a very strong risk factor. Melanoma usually appears as a darkly pigmented growth anywhere on the body. We teach the “A, B, C’s” of melanoma. ‘A’ stands for ‘asymmetry’. When looking at the lesion or mole, imagine drawing a line down the middle of it. If the two halves are not essentially equal, then the lesion is asymmetric and worrisome. ‘B’ stands for ‘border irregularity’. If the border is blurred, fuzzy, notched or indistinct, this is a worrisome feature. Finally, ‘C’ stands for color change or multiple colors. If there are multiple colors in the mole (grey, pink, black, brown, etc.) haphazardly spread throughout the mole, this is a worrisome feature and needs to be evaluated. If you see any of these changes in a mole on your body, or if you simply have a lot of moles, and especially if you have a lot of moles and a family history of melanoma, make an appointment to have them evaluated by Greenville Dermatology.

Non-melanoma skin cancer is much more common than melanoma and while less deadly, still requires surgery of some type to clear. Again, it is caused by sun exposure and tanning bed use. There are two types, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma that are essentially similar in their presentation. Both initially look like a skin colored bump on the skin that grows noticeably but slowly. Eventually, it will begin to bleed or scab over and may seem to come and go, but continues to recur. Most of these are located on the sun exposed areas, but can rarely be seen elsewhere. If you have a non-healing scab or bump on the skin, please come to Greenville Dermatology to have it evaluated.

Skin cancer is one of Greenville Dermatology’s specialties and we look forward to caring for your skin cancer needs and concerns.