When to Contact Your Doctor

Tell your doctor about any changes you see. If you are concerned that a skin lesion may be melanoma, you should schedule an appointment with a doctor.

Important

If an appointment is not available even after explaining that you are concerned about melanoma, then seek another physician.

Contact your doctor promptly if you detect any of the following changes:

• Increase in the size of a preexisting mole
• Change in shape of a preexisting mole, particularly irregular borders
• Change in color of a preexisting mole, including a darkening, loss of color, or the development of a red area
• Any unusual oozing or bleeding from a preexisting mole
• Halo formation around a preexisting mole
• Itching, tenderness, or (less commonly) pain from a preexisting mole
• Any unusual sore, lump, blemish, scaling, or marking
• Appearance of a new mole in previously normal, unpigmented skin
• Any new or suspicious lesion