With summer on the way, it’s more important than ever to keep an eye on new common moles that appear on the skin. These are growths that appear after pigment cells cluster together. In most cases, adults will have between 10 and 40 moles above the waist. It’s more common to find these moles on skin that regularly has exposure to the sun rather than the scalp or other sensitive areas.
The truth behind moles found on your skin
Although it’s possible to be born with moles, they can appear later with age. Adults tend to develop moles until they turn 40, and some may lose moles as they get even older. Because of this, it’s important to keep a vigilant eye on your skin throughout the year.
In most cases, developing a mole or similar brown spot on the skin doesn’t hurt or affect health in any way, but this is not always the case. If a person develops over 100 moles, they are more at risk for developing melanoma and should be very certain what his or her skin looks like over time. This requires learning the ABCDEs of melanoma; if any of them are present at all, make an appointment with a dermatologist at once.
Get to know the ABCD acronym for skin safety
The ABCD acronym was first introduced back in 1985 and has since been refined to include the E. This is a method that is commonly used to evaluate lesions on the skin so that the public can try detecting malignant moles. Such moles tend to manifest in all of the acronym’s features in some way, which stand for asymmetry, border irregularity (not smoothly round), color variance (especially red, tan and black), diameter exceeding 6mm (or the width of a pencil eraser) and evolution on an aesthetic level, meaning the mole changes over time.
While this is a useful tool to keep in mind when looking for suspicious moles, it’s important to seek the help of a licensed dermatologist. Relying exclusively on the model can cause someone to overlook a malignant mole that hasn’t changed color, isn’t larger than a pencil eraser, or doesn’t actually match any of the criteria yet.