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Perform a skin survey. Watch out for basal cell carcinoma. Recognize the characteristics of melanoma. Notice squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Keep track of lesions.
The best way to check yourself for skin cancer is to do a self-examination, or survey. When performing your skin survey, choose a particular day during the month and note it on the calendar. Evaluate each area of your skin, leaving no part unseen. After you look at all the easily seen areas, use a mirror to evaluate the genitals, the anal area, between the toes, your back, and any other hard to see area. It may be helpful to have an image of a body chart and check off areas as you check them on yourself, as well as make note of any moles or markings you find.   For examining your scalp, enlist the help of a friend, partner, or spouse. Part your hair in small sections looking and feeling for erosions, scales, or discolored lesions. With the advent of tanning booths and full-body tans, you can end up with skin cancer on the vulva and penis. Take your skin survey seriously and leave no surface unexamined. The best way to adequately perform this survey is to know what each different kind of skin cancer looks like. Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer. It is most often found in the sun-exposed areas of the head, including the ears and neck.  It is erosive in nature, which means the local skin invasion of the cancer eats into the tissue it affects. It metastasizes, or spreads, to other sites on the body. Risk factors for this include sun exposure, tanning bed use, tendency to freckle, fair skin, number of blistering sunburns in your lifetime, and history of smoking. The lesions are flat or slightly raised, pink or flesh-colored, bleed easily, and have a type of hole in them. They have appearance of eroded flesh and can look like a sore or lesion which oozes, crusts, and doesn't heal. The lesions typically range in size from 1 to 2 cm. Early detection is especially important with melanoma. It is the most deadly of all skin cancers. Melanoma can be cured if it is caught early during stage one. As the cancer advances to late stage cancer, the survival rate for more than a few years is less than 15%. The skin lesions associated with melanoma have certain characteristics that can be looked for when checking yourself for skin cancer, which are based on an ABCDE scheme.   A stands for the typical asymmetry within the skin region, where one half does not match the other half. You should also look for a Border, which will be irregular, ragged or notched, jagged, and not sharp or crisp. The Color will also change across the skin area with a kind of tie-dye effect with blacks, browns, and blues. You must also look for the Diameter of the lesion. It will likely be larger than six mm, or just a bit over a 1/4 an inch in size. You will also notice the mole or lesion Evolve, or change, its appearance over time.   People with darker skin color must be aware that they are at risk for cancer as well — in particular a dangerous form of melanoma that is not caused by sun exposure, called acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM). It is typically found on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, or even under the nails. Squamous cell carcinoma starts out with a precancerous lesion called actinic keratosis (AK), which is a lesion that is not a cancer. An AK lesion appears as scaly flesh or a pink colored lesion and are most commonly found in the head, neck, and trunk of the body. They are often rough or scaly to the touch. These develop into SCC lesions, which are small plagues that are raised, plateaued, and painless with smooth edges. There may appear alone or in clusters. They are typically less than 2 cm in size. They may itch, bleed easily, and appear as non-healing wounds that won’t go away but also don’t grow.  Lesions greater than 2 cm have a 10 to 25% chance to be aggressive and spread. The lesions most prone to spread are those that start on the nose, lips, tongue, ear, penis, temple, scalp, eyelid, scrotum, anus, forehead, and hands. In those with multiple AK lesions, the chances that at least one will go on to convert to SCC are between 6% to 10%. There are several categories of people that are at risk for SCC, including those individuals with chronically injured or diseased skin. You are also at risk is you have overexposure to UVA or UVB rays, ionizing radiation, chemical carcinogens, and arsenic. You are also at risk if you have an infection with HPV viruses 6, 11, 16, and 18, leukemia or lymphoma, acne, or take immunosuppressant drugs. As you perform your body searches and notice any of the three different kinds of lesions, keep track of them. Any suspicious lesion should be photographed and marked in red on your body map. When you do your exam the next month, look for changes. Take another picture and compare the two. If there are any changes, even subtle ones, follow up with your dermatologist. Bring your body map and photos to the appointment so you can show them exactly what has been going on.