What should you know about cherry melanoma?

Cherry angiomas are common benign growths made from small blood vessels and often appear as bright-red, smooth spots or raised bumps. Melanoma is a skin cancer that arises from pigment-producing cells and can vary in colour, including brown, black, blue, red, or a mixture. Colour alone cannot distinguish them. A lesion deserves attention when it changes in size, shape, colour, surface, or sensation, especially when it looks unlike your other marks.

A clinician may examine the lesion with magnification and remove part or all of it for laboratory assessment when melanoma is suspected. A photograph and date can help you notice change, but they do not replace an examination.

Arrange a routine dermatology appointment for a new or changing mark, and mention any personal or family history of skin cancer and past intense sun exposure. Do not pick, burn, or attempt to remove it yourself. If examination suggests melanoma, treatment may involve Surgical Excision or another form of Skin Cancer Surgery; staging can sometimes include Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy. The plan depends on the examination and laboratory result.

Seek prompt medical review if the mark is bleeding without clear injury, repeatedly crusting, rapidly changing, painful, or associated with a new firm lump nearby. Urgent assessment is also appropriate for a rapidly spreading rash with fever or feeling very unwell. Confirmed melanoma requires specialist care; advanced disease may be managed with treatments such as Immunotherapy, guided by its stage and location.

Could this be a blood-vessel growth, a mole, or another lesion? What features make you want to monitor or biopsy it? Should the whole lesion be removed? When will the laboratory result be available, and what follow-up would be needed if melanoma is found?