We Tried Mole Mapping – The Potentially Life Saving Skin Cancer Check

If you’ve peered at your arms/ legs/ face/ or back since the summer and wondered if those moles or brown spots were there before, and if they’ve changed, and whether you should be doing anything about it… Becki and I have been doing the same. I took my moles off to Cosmedics for checking, Becki had hers ‘mapped’ at the Montrose clinic, and we’ll also tell you what you can do to check yours at home…

Why check your moles?

Skin cancer is on the increase, particularly the incidence of malignant melanoma – around 17,00 people are diagnosed with this each year, according to Cancer Research UK, and of those, some 2,300 die – and it’s preventable. Sunscreen, shade, protective clothing, hats, all the stuff we go on about a lot here at TTG. So it makes total sense to get to know your own moles, warts and brown spots, maybe take pictures of them, and check them from time to time.

Alice’s Mole Check

I went to see Dr Ross Perry at Cosmedics for a full-body mole check, to see if anything had changed since I saw him five years ago. Change is not good when it comes to pigmentation patches.

Using a special dermatoscope which allows him to look not just on the surface but a few millimetres underneath it, Dr Perry checked my skin and dispensed the following vital information.

What to look for when you look at moles

‘What we’re looking for are the ‘ugly duckling signs’, says Dr Perry, ‘anything that is changing and, say, becoming darker or uneven, or inflamed.’

Check in unexpected places

‘Look into the hairline as well,’ advises Dr Perry. ‘Ask if your hairdresser sees anything new. It’s rare to get a melanoma in the scalp, but it’s worth checking. They can occur on any part of the body. For women, the most common place for melanomas is the legs, for men, it’s the back.

Men should check the back of their neck and tops of their ears, areas which often get missed with sunscreen. It’s worth checking in between your toes, too, your toenails, and the soles of your feet. Obviously they rarely get sun exposure but you can still get a melanoma there.

What’s the damage?

I’ve got a handful of harmless intradermal nevi – moles – which stick out of the skin and grow slowly as we get older, and the odd keratosis – a rough warty fleshy dry type of mole, the sort of thing a lot of people worry about. They can be irritating on clothing, says Dr Perry, but they’re easy to remove.

‘We can do it now without cutting the whole mole out, shave excision or laser, looks as if it was never there.

What’s the good news re moles and melanoma?

‘People are becoming more aware they should check their moles,’ says Dr Perry. ‘The main thing is to look,’ he says. ‘Then you have a rough idea what your moles and dark spots look like. Otherwise, you’re not going to notice any change.

‘A lot of melanoma skin cancers don’t give any signs of symptoms, such as bleeding or itching, until much later on. Add to that the fact that 70% of melanomas are a brand new mole, so it might not have even been on your skin before. That’s why it’s important to check yourself every two or three months. And just be mindful when you’re outside, if an area is exposed, put some sunscreen on it.’

What about new mole mapping technology?

New skin analysis technology is also making mole mapping easier, with photo-based full body scans helping catch mole changes earlier. TTG’s contributing editor Becki popped into Montrose London – a discreet specialist dermatology clinic in Belgravia – to try it for herself.

‘Is it worth it? I’d say so!,’ says Becki. ‘The tech is a bit like standing sans-clothes in front of an airport scanner (but it’s less daunting than you think, promise!) , with a moving camera taking photos up and down your body, 360 degrees.

‘The clever Canfield-tech gives you a really in-depth insight into the number, appearance and variety of your moles, marking them as ‘no concern’ to ‘further investigation needed’, and it’s a great insight into ones you might not be able to see. The images are also cross-referenced with an initial skin check by a dermatologist so you do really leave confident about your skin’s current state. The clinic can organise the removal of any concerning moles on site too (which thankfully was not the case for me) so I’d definitely recommend it for anyone who is worried about their moles.’

How to self-check at home?

Of course, something you can do almost immediately (with hardly any resources) is an initial check of your skin at home in the mirror.

Melanoma UK – who Alice is an ambassador for and who do great awareness work – have provided a detailed ‘how to check’ cheat sheet that’s super useful for at-home checking. There’s a supporting video too and come November the charity will be selling special skin check toolkits as part of their Winter Sun Appeal.

The main thing to keep in mind is ABCDE.

Check your moles for:

Are the self-check apps worth using?

What does Dr Perry think of the apps where you photograph and upload images of your own moles? ‘They’re pretty good,’ he says, ‘any reference point on what your own moles look like is good. So if you see anything new, or that’s looking different, that’s the point at which to be suspicious and get a professional opinion.’

The main thing is to look, he says. ‘If you don’t look, you’re not going to be able to see what’s there. Then you have a rough idea what things look like. Otherwise, you’re not going to notice any change,

‘A lot of melanoma skin cancers don’t give any signs of symptoms, such as bleeding or itching, until much later on. Add to that the fact that 70% of melanomas are a brand new mole, so it might not have even been on your skin before. That’s why it’s important to check yourself every two or three months.