Stopping skin cancer

Last month, the Maltese Association of Dermatology and Venereology and the Department of Dermatology, in collaboration with the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Department, launched the Euro-Melanoma Day Campaign for the 14th consecutive year, with the aim of raising awareness on prevention and early detection and treatment of melanoma.

Some basic awareness of the outward manifestation of malignant melanoma may be enough to detect it in time.

Most people have a number of small, pigmented spots on their skin, the majority of which appear over the years. Most moles are unalarming, but a change within a mole or another spot on the skin may be the first sign of some form of skin cancer.

Melanoma usually appears as a brown/black patch or lump with irregular features.

The ABCDE criteria provide a useful guide for diagnosing melanoma: A refers to asymmetry; B stands for border – melanoma has an irregular border as opposed to a smooth, rounded border; C refers to colour, with melanoma consisting of more than one shade; D stands for diameter, where melanoma is usually larger than 6mm in diameter; and E refers to evolution, that is, a change in size, shape and colour in a matter of weeks or months. The latter requires most attention.