What should you know about melanoma on areola?

The areola contains naturally pigmented skin and can change with hormones, pregnancy, breastfeeding, friction or inflammation. A melanoma may appear as a new dark spot or as a mark with uneven colour, irregular edges, growth, crusting or bleeding. These features are warning signs, not a diagnosis; eczema, infection, benign moles and normal variation can look similar.

A clinician may inspect the areola and nipple, examine nearby skin and lymph nodes, and use dermoscopy. If the finding remains concerning, a biopsy can identify whether abnormal pigment-producing cells are present and how they are arranged.

Make a prompt appointment with a dermatologist or breast clinician for a mark that is new, changing, itchy, bleeding, crusted or unlike your other marks. Photographing the area for your own comparison can help you describe change, but it cannot replace examination. If melanoma is confirmed, treatment may involve [Skin Cancer Surgery](/treatments/surgical-dermatology/skin-cancer-surgery/), wider surgery or other care based on the biopsy and staging results.

Seek prompt medical review for a sore or pigmented area that does not settle, a new lump, spontaneous nipple bleeding or discharge, skin pulling, persistent pain or a rapidly changing mark. Seek urgent help for heavy bleeding, rapidly spreading redness with fever or severe swelling. These symptoms have several possible causes, but assessment should not be delayed because of uncertainty.

Ask whether the change is in the areolar skin, nipple or deeper breast tissue, whether dermoscopy or biopsy is needed, and how to protect the area while it heals. If melanoma is diagnosed, ask about margins, lymph-node assessment, treatment choices, breastfeeding considerations and the plan for [Follow-Up After Cancer Treatment](/treatments/survivorship-and-rehabilitation/post-treatment-surveillance/).