Melanoma (Skin Cancer) Warning Signs

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer, but melanoma is the most dangerous cancer because medical professionals say it can grow and spread quickly. Although melanoma accounts for only about 1 percent of skin cancers, it causes a large majority of skin cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).

More older adults develop melanoma than younger adults since the risk of the disease increases with age. The ACS says the average age of people diagnosed with it is 66. However, people younger than 30 can develop melanoma. Besides age, other risk factors for melanoma include having a family history of the disease, skin color, and long-time exposure to ultraviolet light, such as rays from the sun and tanning (whether inside or outside).

The ACS estimates that 100,640 Americans will be diagnosed with melanoma in 2024, while about 8,290 people are expected to die of the disease. What’s more, the rates of melanoma cancer have increased by about 3 percent in women 50 years old and older but have remained stable among men, the ACS reports.

Like other types of cancer, melanoma has obvious warning signs. However, medical professionals say there are some warning signs that could signal the presence of melanoma yet are easy to miss. Among the signs to watch out for are the following:

1. Odd-looking Moles

Normal moles on the skin typically look similar to each other and are usually harmless. However, melanoma moles stand out compared to other moles because they are darker, oddly shaped, have an irregular border, and change in size, shape, and color over time.

Dr. Elizabeth Buchbinder, an oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, calls these moles “ugly ducklings.”

“If you have a bunch of dark moles, but you have 50 of them, they’re not all melanomas,” Dr. Buchbinder told AARP. “But if you have one mole that really looks different than the others, and it’s kind of that ugly duckling, that’s the one that you really want to get looked at and checked.”

2. Spots Appearing In Unexpected Places

According to Dr. Elizabeth Quigley, a dermatologist and associate physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, melanoma is called a “hidden danger” because it not only appears on obvious places like the arms and legs but also in “places the sun doesn’t shine,” like the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands.

Additionally, melanoma can show up as a dark spot under a fingernail or toenail, which is where Bob Marley’s cancer was found. The Jamaican reggae singer and songwriter noticed a dark spot under his toenail, which he mistakenly believed was a bruise on his toe. It was melanoma, and he eventually died from it.

Dr. Buchbinder advises seeing a doctor if you have a dark spot under the nail bed that doesn’t grow out with the nail over time as a blood blister would. In rare cases, melanoma can develop on the eye, inside the mouth, or on the scalp. Dr. Buchbinder said she saw someone who had gray hair develop a black streak because melanoma was growing on the scalp.

The “hidden” types of melanoma appear more often in people of color, according to Dr. Vishal Patel, an associate professor of dermatology at the George Washington School of Medicine & Health Sciences and director of the cutaneous oncology program at the GW Cancer Center.

“I tell Black and Indian and Asian patients that if you have nail changes, [any dark spots] on your palms and soles, as well as in the eye and mouth, these are ones that I worry about,” Dr. Patel told AARP. “Because while it is less common to have that, when it does happen, it is worse. So, it’s important to know about that.”

What’s also worse is that people of color are often diagnosed with melanoma at a later, more dangerous stage. A 2019 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the five-year survival rate of melanoma was lowest among non-Hispanic Black populations at 66.2 percent, compared to 90.1 percent for non-Hispanic white populations.

3. Moles That Change Colors

Melanoma moles are often depicted as brown or black in color, but they can also appear bluish, pinkish, white, and even reddish. If it’s red, then that means the immune system is attacking it, says Dr. Robert Brodell, chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

“It knows it’s abnormal and it’s trying to defend itself, and you get inflammation,” Brodell told AARP.

Melanoma can also look like a rash and take on a pink hue, Dr. Quiqly said. If the skin irritation doesn’t get better with standard treatments for a rash, Quigley advises to get it checked out to make sure it’s not skin cancer.

Melanoma can also be clear, having no color at all, and leave a halo of white around a darker spot.

“Was the body recognizing something like a melanoma that was going wrong, and in its process of destroying the melanoma, it destroyed some of the normal melanocytes [cells in the skin that produce pigment] in that area? It’s just one of those things that may kind of make you look a little closer at something,” Dr. Buchbinder told AARP.

4. Moles That Ooze, Bleed or Itch

A mole needs checking out by a medical professional when it starts to itch, becomes more painful or tender, begins to ooze, bleed or develop a scalier appearance without healing.

“We think that some of that irritation—the itching, the bleeding—is actually the body starting to recognize [the cancer] and starting to attack it a little, making it irritated,” Dr. Buchbinder told AARP. “That’s why you’ll see some itching and bleeding and irritation near the actual mole.”

Preventing Skin Cancer

The good news is that melanoma is highly treatable if recognized and caught early. What’s more, medical professionals say there are steps you can take to prevent melanoma and other skin cancers:

• Be careful spending an extensive amount of time out in the sun if you take blood pressure medications that contain diuretics, such as hydrochlorothiazide, and calcium channel blockers, such as nifedipine. Studies have found that blood pressure medications containing hydrochlorothiazide have been linked to an increased risk of skin cancer, according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association.

• Keep your immune system as strong as possible.

• Conduct frequent checks of your skin.

“People need to really be aware of their skin,” Dr. Quigley told AARP. “And if there’s anything that seems abnormal, it’s not the time to wait—it needs to be evaluated.”

Source Links:

https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2021/melanoma-skin-cancer-risk.html

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/melanoma-skin-cancer/about/key-statistics.html

https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/skin-cancer/blood-pressure-medication-increase-risk-skin-cancer#

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