How do you know if you have skin cancer?

Your doctor should also watch for these in your regular physicals. If you're in an especially high-risk group, you may want regularly schedule professional examinations of your skin.

Here's what to look for:

A small, fleshy bump with a smooth, shiny, or pearly appearance.

A firm, scarlike lesion.

A bump that repeatedly bleeds and crusts over or hasn't healed for more than three weeks.

A red or tender flat spot that bleeds easily.

A transparent bump with tiny, visible blood vessels.

A smooth bump with a raised border and indented middle.

A red, irritated, crusty patch of skin that doesn't heal.

A shiny area of tight-looking skin, especially on the face, that looks like a scar and has poorly defined edges.

Any growth in a wart or mole.

Any change in the surface of a skin growth.

Any asymmetry or irregularity in the shape in a skin growth, e.g., if it's not an even shape on both sides, or the edges are jagged.

Any asymmetry or change in the color of skin growth, e.g. it's brown or black, or has dashes of these colors, or even red, blue, or white.

Any sore that does not heal.

In addition, early symptoms of a malignant melanoma might be if a mole gets thicker, or becomes worn down and crusty, or soft and flaky, or if it itches or burns. In later stages, a melanoma could turn into an ulcerous sore, or become painful and bleed.