Skin Checks
Reid Health’s experienced primary care providers and plastic surgeons offer comprehensive skin checks to help you find skin cancer early.
Skin checks at Reid
Skin checks allow providers at Reid Cancer Center to find signs of skin cancer and treat them in their beginning stages. When abnormal tissue or cancer is found early, skin cancer treatment is more likely to be successful. Our Richmond, Indiana-based primary care providers and plastic surgeons can help you understand skin cancer checks and interpret your results.
Who needs screenings?
Skin checks are important for cancer prevention, but there are no formal guidelines. You should check with your provider about how often to be screened if you have these skin cancer risk factors:
- A family or personal history of skin cancer
- Blonde or red hair
- Blue or green eyes
- Lighter skin tone
- Skin that burns or freckles easily
Skin cancer screening tests come in two forms: skin self-exams and clinical screenings.
Skin self-exams
Everyone should check their skin regularly for unusual moles and other signs of skin cancer. If you find any, you can alert your provider.
When performing a skin check, pay careful attention to spots that itch, bleed, or are painful to the touch. Also look for spots that have any “ABCDEs”:
- A — Asymmetrical: Moles with an irregular shape
- B — Border: Moles with jagged or irregular edges
- C — Color: Moles with multiple colors or colors that have darkened or faded
- D — Diameter: Moles larger than 1/4-inch across
- E — Evolving: Any mole or spot that has changed in the ways mentioned above or looks different from other moles
How to perform a skin test
Skin self-exams should follow these steps:
- Stand in front of a full-length mirror and check your skin head to toe, front and back. Raise your arms so you can see underneath.
- Check your hands (palms and backs), elbows, forearms, and armpits.
- Check your feet. Pay attention to both the tops and bottoms and between your toes.
- Get a hand mirror. Look at your scalp, the back of your neck, your back, your buttocks, and the backs of your legs — paying careful attention to the areas behind your knees.
Clinical skin cancer screenings
Clinical skin checks are like self-exams but more thorough. You’ll need to remove all your clothes. You should also remove any nail polish so your provider can get a good look at your nails (some types of skin cancer develop in the nail beds).
At Reid, you can have a clinical skin cancer screening with a primary care provider or plastic surgeon. Your provider will ask about your medical history and any concerning symptoms, such as new spots or moles, moles that have changed in size or appearance, and moles that are painful, itchy, or bleeding.
During the exam, your provider will examine your entire body, including your buttocks and genitals. Although you might feel uncomfortable, your provider needs to see all your skin because skin cancer can develop anywhere.
Clinical screening can involve a dermatoscope, a special magnifying lens and light source, to examine the skin more closely. Your provider might also take digital photos of problem areas. Mainly, they’re looking for moles, birthmarks, and other pigmented areas that look unusual in color, size, shape, or texture as well as spots that are bleeding, oozing, or crusting.
Some skin cancers can spread to the lymph system, part of the body’s immune system, so your provider might also feel lymph nodes near the area(s) of concern for the presence of lumps or abnormalities.
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