Dermatologist explains ‘most reliable' red flag to spot skin cancer

Skin cancer can be one of the most visible cancers in its early stages, which would in theory make it easier and quicker for people to detect initially at home. However, because the condition can look different in each and every person, many simply don’t know what - or where - to look out for.

Speaking on the Dr Karan Explores podcast, internet dermatologist Dr Muneeb Shah highlighted the key sign people need to be aware of that means they should be seeing a doctor right away. The Derm Doctor, who has millions of followers online, explained the “ugly duckling sign”.

He shared: “It's very difficult for people to know whether or not something is skin cancer if they look at it. The most reliable predictor, for the average person looking at their skin, is if something just doesn't look like the rest of the things that you have on the skin. We call this the ugly duckling sign.

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“If you look at something a lot of people will say: ‘Hey, this doesn't look like anything else I have, it looks new and it just doesn't look right’. And not only do you notice it, but usually your spouse notices it, your parents notice it, and they say: ‘Hey, this is just not normal. Let's go get it checked out’.

“It's a very reliable predictor of something being cancer or something being abnormal. So if you have something like that, don't hesitate, don't wait to get it checked out.”

The dermatologist especially warned people who tend to leave something until they are absolutely sure it’s an issue. He noted that while roughly half of his clients currently are skin cancer patients, a lot of those that have melanoma come in after they notice an ugly duckling sign months or even years earlier but kept “putting off getting it checked out”.

Later in the conversation the dermatologist also urged people to protect and check the patches of skin they may not usually think of such as the back of their necks, their ears and the tips of their nose as skin cancer in these areas can be particularly vulnerable. Dr Muneeb explained: “They're high risk because they're very difficult to remove because there's not a lot of extra skin there.

“If you have a skin cancer on the ear or on the nose, these are high risk because they're more likely to spread due to the vasculature in those areas, but also because there's not a lot of extra skin, there's not a lot of laxity of the skin in those areas. So it's very difficult to close those areas once you remove something in those areas.”