Skin Cancer 101: Signs and Symptoms

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Video description:
Watching out for skin cancer can be as easy as knowing the alphabet. Dr. Kriegel, Director of Manhattan Center of Dermatology, explains how learning the ABCDE’s of mole appearance could save your life.

Video Transcript:
Dr. Kriegel: There are symptoms of skin cancer that people can recognize themselves. Any mole that has bled, any mole that has gotten larger and may be crusted over a short period of time, one needs to watch those kinds of moles, those are likely to be a pre-cancer or a skin cancer. It is very easy to remember the ABCDE’s of Melanoma. A stands for asymmetry, and what that means is if a mole is folded on itself, it’s not a nice round circle, but rather it could be jagged. B is border, if it’s not circular, if it has an edge that is jagged, if it’s irregular, that’s an important characteristic. C stands for color, if it has many colors in the mole, or if the mole is very very dark, that’s a concern. D stands for diameter, if the mole is larger than a pencil eraser, usually about 4-6 millimeters in diameter, that’s a concern. And probably the most important of the ABCDE’s is E, which stands for evolution. If we see a mole, thats seems to have gotten larger, darker or developed a jagged edge, that’s a very important sign and that’s something that needs the attention of a physician. In addition to visual symptoms, think about how a mole might feel, if it itches if it has any discomfort associated with it, if it burns, those are also symptoms I think need to be taken into account. If you see something new on your body, it’s very important to get that checked by a professional.