What should you know about new skin growth?

A skin growth may be a lump within the skin, a spot that rises, or a nodule beneath the surface. Causes include blocked follicles, an inflamed boil, a cyst, a wart, a benign mole, or another skin condition. A basal cell carcinoma can present as a new or changing growth, sometimes with a sore that does not heal, repeated bleeding, or a shiny or scaly surface. These features do not establish a diagnosis; an examination is needed, and a clinician may recommend a sample if the appearance is uncertain.

Note when you first noticed it, where it is, whether it is growing, and whether it has changed colour, border, surface, or sensation. Take occasional photographs beside a familiar object for scale, without delaying an appointment when it is changing. Avoid squeezing, cutting, burning, or applying leftover medication. Keep the area clean and protect it from repeated friction. A clinician can decide whether observation, treatment, or a procedure is appropriate. Steroid Injection Into The Skin is used for selected inflammatory lesions, not as a way to identify an unexplained growth.

Arrange a medical assessment for a growth that keeps enlarging, repeatedly bleeds, crusts, ulcerates, becomes painful, or fails to heal. Seek more urgent advice for rapidly spreading redness, marked swelling, pus with fever, severe pain, or a sudden change after injury. A new growth near the eye, nose, mouth, or genitals also deserves timely review because location can affect examination and treatment choices.

Ask what the growth most resembles, whether it needs dermoscopic examination or sampling, how soon it should be reviewed, and which changes should prompt earlier contact. Ask whether photographs are useful and whether any medicine or procedure is appropriate after the diagnosis is clear.