Malignant Melanoma In the following, benign means "probably harmless, not like cancer", while suspicious means "looks suspicously like malignant cancer". The only way to know a mole is a malignant melanoma is to surgically remove it from the skin and have a pathologist look at it in the lab.

The moles on the left are benign, those on the right are photos of malignant melanomas. They are chosen to illustrate the differences described.

After you've looked at the ABCD system, try looking at the moles that follow to see if you can recognise the suspicious ones. Its a good idea to look at lots of photos of melanomas to get a feel for how they look, and how the ABCD system works. Theres a good list of photos here at DermnetNZ .

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A for Asymmetry

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Benign: both halves of the mole look the same

Suspicious: one half is unlike the other half B for Border

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Benign: border regular and clearly defined

Suspicious: border irregular, scalloped or poorly defined C for Colour

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Benign: colour diffuse and uniform, not mottled

Suspicious: colour varies in the mole, mottled shades may be brown, black, even white, red or blue D for Diameter

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Benign: mole smaller than 6mm (diameter of a pencil)

Suspicious: mole larger than 6mm
(NB many benign moles >6mm, but few melanoma < 6mm) E for Evolving (no pictures)

Benign: mole evolves or changes only slowly as your skin grows and stretches

Suspicious: mole evolves or changes more rapidly over a few weeks, becomes itchy and inflammed, or bleeds for no reason

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(c) American Academy of Dermatology, 2003 / Skin Cancer Foundation (modified without permission).   For more information, try DermNet NZ and look for "melanoma".   Quizz - to help you think about suspicious features, not to diagnose moles! Of these photos of moles, 6 are benign and 6 are suspicious, the exercise being to decide which. The list is randomised each time you open or refresh the page.

 

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