Symptoms of Skin Cancer

Skin Cancer

Diagnosing is often tricky but there are some symptoms of skin cancer to look out for. This type of cancer occurs anywhere on the external part of your body and can pop up even in areas that never see the light of day. Skin cancer also affects any age, sex or racial group.

Skin lesions

Skin cancer provides a variety of clues as to its existence. Often times, skin cancer is first detected by visible lesions on the skin. These lesions occur in a wide range of shapes, colors and sizes. Simply having one of these lesions does not in itself mean that you have skin cancer. Certain lesions are more of a cause for concern than others. Those that possess irregular borders are often worth checking into. Another thing to inspect is the color of lesions with irregular border. If they have any areas that appear red, blue, gray, white or bluish black, they could be cancerous. Lesions can appear suddenly and grow quite large.

Changing moles

Skin cancer develops in moles which are already present on the body. Usually these moles will start changing which provides a clue that something is wrong. For instance, moles often change colors. Typically their hue darkens. Moles also have changes in their size which makes them grow. Another change in moles deals with the texture. Normally, their texture is firm and somewhat leathery. Bleeding can also occur from the mole.

More and more people are being diagnosed with skin cancer each year. These cases have a much more successful outcome when they are detected early. It is important to know the signs and symptoms of skin cancer to defeat this silent killer.