Hollywood star Hugh Jackman has disclosed his most recent skin cancer scare and is urging fans to stay vigilant.
The Wolverine star had biopsies of moles on his nose that could be basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer with a high survival rate.
DailyMail.com spoke with dermatologists to break down the early warning signs of skin cancer to help you protect yourself.
Asymmetrical moles
Dermatologists follow the ABCDEs when diagnosing melanoma; that is, asymmetry, border, color, diameter, and evolving.
Most melanomas, the rarest but most dangerous form of skin cancer that is most likely to spread, present as moles that have uneven edges. It looks different from common moles, the round, brown or tan spots on the skin caused by growing clusters of cells in the skin called melanocytes.
Dr Nayoung Lee, a dermatologist at New York University Langone Hospital told DailyMail.com: ‘If you can’t find the mole in half, if edges don’t line up’ that could be melanoma.
Irregular borders of a mole, the ‘B’ in ABCDEs, can also indicate melanoma. The edges of a normal mole
The Skin Cancer Foundation advises people to look out for ‘ugly ducklings’ – unsightly moles that very clearly stick out from the pack all over the body.
The foundation says: ‘This recognition strategy is based on the concept that most normal moles on your body resemble one another, while melanomas stand out like ugly ducklings in comparison.’
Moles of uneven colors
Color, the ‘C’ in ABCDEs, is a strong indicator of dangerous melanoma. Healthy moles are typically a single color, from dark and light brown to pink and flesh-toned.
Some moles become cancerous and change colors gradually. Roughly 20 to 30 percent of melanoma cases develop in existing moles.
The other 70 to 80 percent of the time, cancerous moles arise on otherwise healthy-looking skin.
But a suspicious mole often contains several shades of brown, black, or tan, as well as spots of pink, red or purple. It becomes more colorful as cancer progresses, so early action is crucial. In fact, 99 percent of patients who detect and begin treating their melanoma early survive five years or more after their diagnosis.
Dr Zaineb Makhzoumi, a dermatologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center who specializes in a type of surgery to remove cancerous moles said: ‘Once you start to get two, three, four colors fused within one mole, that should be a warning sign and you should have that mole evaluated by a board certified dermatologist.’
Moles larger than a pea
Size matters when it comes to suspicious moles. Melanomas typically present a bit bigger than a pea or a pencil eraser, about six millimeters or a quarter inch.
Dr Makhzoumi told DailyMail.com: ‘Most moles if they’re benign are smaller than a pencil eraser. If you have a mole that’s bigger than a pencil eraser that is not in and of itself a warning sign and concerning. But rather when taken with the other constellation of signs, that’s something that you want evaluated by a dermatologist.’
Not all melanomas subscribe to the ‘D’ in ABCDEs where D means a diameter of at least six millimeters. In 2013, doctors in Queensland, Australia treated a 38-year-old woman with invasive melanoma on her arm that measured just 1.6 mm in diameter.
The small cancerous mole also did not appear asymmetrical, meaning doctors must still keep an eye out for moles that appear darker than those around it, as was the case in the Australian woman.
The doctors said: ‘We regard it as very significant that this melanoma did not have unequivocal asymmetry, although it did have recognized clues to malignancy… We believe that very small pigmented lesions which have any recognized clues to melanoma should be assessed for biopsy whether or not unequivocal asymmetry is present.’
Doctors must also monitor how a mole evolves over time. This is the ‘E’ in ABCDEs. Changes in the size, shape, color, or elevation of a spot or any new symptom such as bleeding, itching, or crusting, may be a warning sign of melanoma.
Dr Makhzoumi said: ‘Moles tend to go through an evolution, but the evolution of moles tends to be that that they shrink, or they disappear.
‘If you have a mole that’s evolving in that it’s growing, it’s getting darker, it’s elevated, that’s really, really key for melanoma,’
Melanoma grows in two phases, horizontal and vertical. The horizontal phase can last years before the mole becomes dangerous and invasive, meaning it spreads to lymph nodes and organs. But in a later phase, the lesion grows vertically, at which point it becomes a tumor with the ability to spread elsewhere in the body, potentially proving fatal.
Dr Makhzoumi added: ‘Once melanoma enters that vertical growth phase, they actually accelerate very rapidly. So if you have a spot that all of a sudden starts to develop a lump to it, that is highly concerning for malignant melanoma.’
Bleeding or scaly patches
These will often appear on areas of the skin most often exposed to sunlight, such as the face and the top of the head.
Precancerous squamous cell carcinoma leads to actinic keratosis leads to a skin disorder that causes rough, scaly patches. The patches can sometimes bleed and become ulcerous.
People that have a history of heavy sun exposure are most likely to experience this type of skin cancer. With every bad, blistering sunburn comes a heightened risk of squamous cell carcinoma. Fair-skinned people and those with light eyes who are more prone to sunburn are also more vulnerable to SCC.
More often than not, though, squamous cell carcinoma is curable when treated early. In fact, the survival rate is as high as 98 percent.
A sore that bleeds may indicate another type of non-melanoma skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma which, like SCC, has a high survival rate. Still, people should treat it aggressively once it’s detected.
Dr Lee told DailyMail.com: ‘Depending on location they can grow deeper in muscle and bone, so they do become problematic if left to grow for a long period of time.’
Basal cell carcinoma is the most common type of cancer overall and the most common type of skin cancer more specifically. The number of new cases in the US exceeds 4 million cases each year.
Dr Lee added: ‘Basal cell carcinomas, we don’t even stage them because survival rates are good.’
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