III. How Can You Find a New Melanoma?

Interview with the Expert:

Dr. Darrell Rigel discusses how to perform self skin exam.

The ABCDE rule is a good memory aid to help patients and physicians to detect melanoma.

A Stands for Asymmetry

B for border irregularity

C for multiple colors

D for diameter greater than 6mm

E for evolution or change

Interview With the Experts:

Dr. Darrel Rigel who discussed how he and his colleagues developed the ABCDE acronym over 30 years ago.

The term “ugly duckling” refers to a lesion on the skin that does not share the same appearance as the moles in the nearby surrounding skin. This sign has been demonstrated to be a very effective way of identifying melanomas.

• Pay attention to lesions with symptoms of pain, itching or bleeding

• Also pay attention to any lesions that have changed in shape, color, or size.

• A lesion with symptoms or changes is not necessarily a malignant lesion. It simply means that you have to pay more attention to those lesions, and tell your physicians about them.