How Does My Doctor Know I Have Melanoma?

If you have a suspicious-looking mole or other skin lesion, your healthcare provider will want to check it. Your doctor may ask you questions about these things; if not, bring them up yourself.

• Any family or personal history of melanoma or other cancers

• Your history of sun exposure and sunburn

• Your symptoms

A skin exam and biopsy are the best ways to find out if you have melanoma of the skin. A full-body skin exam involves having a doctor or nurse examine all of your skin. They look for moles, birthmarks, or other pigmented areas. If an area looks suspicious, the person doing the exam will note these details about it.

• Color

• Bleeding

• Scaling

• Shape

• Size

• Texture

The examiner may also check to see whether the lymph nodes in your groin, neck, and underarm area are enlarged. These may signal possible spread of melanoma to the lymph nodes.

To tell for sure if you have cancer, your doctor will need to remove a small piece of tissue from the skin area around the suspicious lesion. This is called a biopsy.