It is not easy to catch skin cancer, especially when it can present itself in many different ways. Here are four different things to lookout for when examining your skin for skin cancer. First, scaly patches! Scaly patches are not just dry skin to apply lotion to. They could potentially be precancerous actinic keratosis. If your dry skin or scaly patches are constantly dry you should get checked for this condition.
Another thing to look for when examining your skin are sores that never healed. Oftentimes, we think that sores are just going to go away. If a sore stays for a while, get it checked, it could be a basal cell carcinoma. New bumps appear pretty often on our skin, it might be hard for you to detect one. However, if you notice a new scaly bump appear and grow you should go to your doctor and check for a squamous cell carcinoma. Another phenomena on the skin are moles that change. If you have a mole that changes in color, shape, or size, go to your doctor. These moles could be melanoma. It would be impossible to catch any of these changes on your skin without regularly checking your body. Make sure to take the time to examine your own skin monthly so you do not miss these signs!
- A scaly patch could be:
- Precancerous Actinic Keratosis
- A Non-healing sore could be:
- Basal cell carcinoma
- A New Scaly bump could be:
- Squamous cell carcinoma
- A changing mole could be:
- Melanoma
