There are many ways a skin cancer can appear on the skin. It is important to know what you are looking for when identifying different moles and lesions on the body.
- Basal Cell Carcinoma
- Most common form of skin cancer, it occurs most frequently on sun-exposed regions of the body.
- BCC’s appear as a small, shiny, skin colored or pinkish lump.
- Blood vessels cross its surface and it may have a central ulcer, so its edges appear rolled.
- It often bleeds spontaneously and then seems to heal over.
- BCCs may also be superficial and appear as multiple pink or red scaly irregular plaques, which slowly grow over months or years.
- Squamous Cell Carcinoma
- SCCs mainly occur on sun-exposed areas.
- SCC begins as a small nodule and is it enlarges the center becomes necrotic and sloughs, eventually the nodule turns into an ulcer.
- Intermittent bleeding is common, especially on the lip.
- SCCs may be in the form of a hard plaque, often with an opalescent quality, with tiny blood vessels.
- The tumor can lie below the level of the surrounding skin, and eventually ulcerate and invade the underlying tissue.
- Superficial spreading melanoma (SSM)
- SSM typically has irregular borders
- Various shades of black, brown, grey, blue, pink, red or white.
- In the early stages, SSM usually appears as a flat spot that looks like a freckle that is spreading.
- The pigmentation may darken, and the lesion may grow and develop irregular borders.
- Inflammation within the lesion of common and it may begin to itch.
- Nodular Melanoma
- Nodular Melanoma is the most aggressive type of melanoma.
- It is most often darkly pigmented; however, some NM lesions can be light brown or even non-pigmented.
- An ulcerated and bleeding lesion is also common.
- Nodular melanoma tends to grow rapidly in thickness.
- May not have a readily visibly phase of development
- Instead of arising from a pre-existing mole, it may appear in a spot where a lesion did not previously exist.
- Early Stage (Lentigo Maligna)
- Typically occurs on sun-damaged skin in middle-aged and elderly people, mainly on the face.
- May be mistaken for a benign “age spot” or “sun spot”
- Begins as a spreading, flat, patch with irregular borders and variable colors of brown.
- As the lesion grows and evolves, it becomes more irregular, this often occurs over a period of 10-15 years.
- It can also happen rapidly in a matter of weeks or months.
- As the lesion grows deeper into the skin, it may turn into various shades of black and brown.
- Acral Lentigo Maligna
- Most common in Asians and people with dark skin.
- This type of melanoma mainly occurs on the palms, soles of feet, mucous membranes (mouth, nose), and underneath or near fingernails and toenails.
- As ALM increases in size it usually becomes more irregular in shape and color.
- The surface of the lesion can remain flat, even as the tumor invades deeply into the skin.
- When present on the sole of the foot it can often become painful and be mistaken for a planter wart.
- Non-Pigmented Melanoma
- While not common, melanoma occasionally does not have a brown or black pigmentation.
- Amelanotic melanoma usually appears as a pink or red nodule, it is usually mistaken for sun damaged blotchy skin.
- Diagnosis of this type of melanoma is sometimes delayed which results in a poor prognosis.
- Another uncommon sub-type, desmoplastic neutrophic melanoma (DNM), this usually looks like non-pigmented scar.
- The lesion also can appear as a cyst that may or may not be pigmented.
- DNM tends to appear on sun-damaged skin in elderly patients, occurring mostly on the head and neck.