Mole Monitoring Can Detect Early Melanoma

Those "beauty marks" on our skin - benign, pigmented lesions known as moles - are usually harmless. But a small percentage of moles turn into melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer. It's vital to catch melanomas early, when they're curable. High-risk individuals include those with many moles, large irregular moles and a personal or family history of melanoma.

"If an individual has a mole that just doesn't match the others, maybe appearing more irregular than the other moles, particularly if it's growing and changing, then see the doctor," says Dr. James Grichnik, a dermatologist at Duke University Medical Center.

Grichnik developed mole-mapping, a surveillance program that uses a set of computerized, high-resolution photos of the body to track moles over time. He says patient involvement is crucial to monitoring moles.

"It's much more likely that between the patient and the physician, if a melanoma develops, they'll be able to get it early and in a more curable timeframe."

Grichnik recommends a monthly self-exam, using the "ABCD" rules formulated by the American Academy of Dermatology for identifying early melanoma.