AAD Skin Cancer Screening: What Patients Should Know

A clinician examines the skin for lesions that look unusual or have changed. Depending on the appointment, this may include areas that are easy to miss, such as the scalp, behind the ears, between the toes, and beneath the nails. Tell the examiner about any spot that is new, evolving, itchy, tender, bleeding, crusting, or failing to heal.

A dermatoscope can magnify and illuminate structures below the skin surface, helping a trained clinician assess a lesion more closely. Screening is still a visual assessment rather than a final diagnosis. A suspicious area may need photographs for monitoring, a planned recheck, or a biopsy so tissue can be examined.

Before the visit, note lesions that concern you and gather older photographs if they show change. Remove nail polish and heavy makeup when possible, wear clothing that is easy to change, and avoid covering a lesion with cosmetic camouflage. Be ready to discuss previous skin cancers, biopsies, extensive sun exposure, tanning-bed use, medicines, and close relatives with skin cancer.

Ask whether the planned appointment is a focused check or a full skin examination. Screening schedules are individual rather than identical for everyone; a dermatologist can tailor follow-up to your history, skin findings, and risk factors. Between visits, become familiar with your usual marks so that a new or changing lesion is easier to notice.

Book a prompt assessment if a mole or spot changes in size, shape, colour, or surface; looks unlike your other marks; repeatedly bleeds; develops a persistent crust; or becomes a sore that does not heal. New symptoms such as ongoing itch, pain, or tenderness in one lesion also merit attention.

Contact a clinician sooner if a lesion changes rapidly or if a previous biopsy or skin-cancer site develops a new lump, ulcer, or bleeding. These signs do not establish cancer, but they should be examined rather than deferred until a community screening event or a distant routine appointment.

Ask which lesions need monitoring, how to photograph them consistently, and what specific change should prompt an earlier return. If biopsy is advised, ask what the procedure involves, how results will be communicated, how to care for the site, and what follow-up may depend on the finding.