Here's an essay about skin care and melanoma:
Myth: All melanomas follow the ABCD rule.
Fact: When the ABCD rule for early melanoma diagnosis was designed more than 20 years ago, it offered a tool for physicians to aid in distinguishing potentially cancerous lesions from benign pigmented moles. The ABCD acronym stands for Asymmetry (meaning one half of the mole is different from the other), Border Irregularity (the edges or borders of melanomas are usually ragged or notched), Color (melanoma often has a variety of hues and colors within the same lesion), and Diameter (most melanomas are usually greater than 6 mm in diameter when diagnosed, although they can be smaller). However, like all rules, there are bound to be exceptions.
Numerous studies show that not all melanomas follow the ABCD rule. One study published in the May 2003 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD) examined a specific type of melanoma known as nodular melanoma (NM) that does not fit the ABCD criteria for melanoma diagnosis. NMs commonly occur as symmetric, elevated lesions that are uniform in color and non-pigmented.
"When most people think of melanoma, they often associate a black- or brown-colored lesion or a mole that changes colors," said Dr. Baker. "This study demonstrates that nodular melanomas lack a change in color, with 71 percent of the NM patients participating in the study reporting no noticeable change in color versus 57 percent of patients classified with the more traditional ‘superficial spreading melanoma´ that noted a color change in their lesions. This is one example where NM patients relied more on the changing nature of their suspicious lesions - primarily bleeding and catching on clothing - than the ABCD characteristics."
