Check your skin for new or changing moles every two to three months, and get any mark that's changing in size, shape or colour, or a new one that won't settle, looked at by a GP. Caught at stage 1, melanoma has close to 100% five-year survival, and more than 9 in 10 people diagnosed with melanoma in the UK now survive ten years or more, according to Cancer Research UK. Fifteen minutes, a well-lit room and a phone camera will do it.
We won't ask you for a reset. One thing in the morning, and one honest look at your skin this week. That's all we're asking. Here's how to do the looking well.
Why check your skin now rather than when something hurts?
Because melanoma is caught at a size, not by how it feels. Among 210,042 Australian patients followed for up to 30 years, 7.1% of those with the thinnest tumours (1 mm or less) died of melanoma, against 44.3% for tumours over 4 mm. Most of the gap between those two numbers is time: how long a mark sat there before anyone did anything about it.
Around 19,400 people a year are diagnosed with melanoma in the UK, 53 a day, and the rate has more than doubled since the early 1990s. The good news sits inside that: around 87% of staged melanomas in men and 91% in women in England were diagnosed at stage 1 or 2 in 2022. The ones found late are the ones this post exists to prevent.
Around 60% more men than women die from skin cancer in the UK, and men's melanomas are found later and thicker. Matching men's tumour thickness to women's would close almost half of that gap in deaths. We hear the same reasons from customers again and again. It was on the back. Nobody looked. Life got in the way.
How often should you check your skin for moles?
Every two to three months. Not weekly, which nobody keeps up, and not once a year, which misses the point. The useful thing is the comparison: the same mole photographed in January and again in April tells you whether it's moving. A single photo on its own tells you very little.
Tie it to a cue you already have. Habits stick fastest when the behaviour is done in the same context and feels easy, so pick the first Sunday of every third month, the day the clocks change, or the weekend after a race. Keep the photos in one album on your phone with the date and the spot. That's your map.
What changes on a mole should worry you?
The NHS puts it simply: a new mole, or a change in the size, shape or colour of one you already have. A new mark counts as much as a changed one. The ABCDE check is the quickest way to run your eye over anything that catches it:
- Asymmetry: one half doesn't match the other.
- Border: ragged, notched or blurred edges.
- Colour: more than one shade, or a colour that's changed.
- Diameter: bigger than the end of a pencil, or growing.
- Evolving: anything changing in size, shape, colour, height or how it feels.
Clinicians use a weighted version of the same idea. NICE's referral guideline scores a change in size, an irregular shape and an irregular colour as the major signs, with a diameter of 7 mm or more, inflammation, oozing or crusting, and a change in sensation such as itching as the minor ones. A mole that's changing in size is already enough to get it looked at.
One more trick, and it's a good one: the ugly duckling. Most of your moles look like each other. The one that doesn't, whether it's darker, bigger, flatter or just odd next to its neighbours, is the one to photograph first. Comparing a mole against your own others, not against a textbook, is a practical way to spot the outlier.
Where should you check, and where do people miss?
Work top to bottom in good light with a large mirror and a hand mirror, or better still a second pair of eyes: scalp, face, neck, ears, upper arms, elbows, forearms, both sides of the hands including palms and nails, chest, sides, stomach, then back, buttocks, legs, and finally the feet including the soles and between the toes.
Some places earn extra attention. In UK men melanoma is most often on the trunk; in women, the legs. Melanoma on the scalp is caught later, thicker and is deadlier than melanoma elsewhere on the head, which is why the parting and the crown need a mirror or a partner. In UK men, 1 in 6 squamous cell skin cancers is on the ear.
If you have darker skin, melanoma is far less common but is found later when it does occur, and the commonest type sits on the palms, the soles and under the nails. Those spots are the easiest to skip and the ones to check first. The advice doesn't change with skin tone, but the places to look do.
Which way of checking your skin is right for you?
There are three routes, and they trade effort for certainty. None of them replaces a GP when something's changing.
| Route | What you do | Who looks | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone photos at home | Photograph every mole in good light every two to three months and compare | You | Building the habit and spotting an obvious change |
| Our Map My Mole Lens + Skin Check | Clip the lens to your phone, photograph the marks you're unsure of, answer a few questions in the app | A UK consultant dermatologist, report within 24 hours | A specialist's view on specific moles without waiting for an appointment |
| Clinic mole mapping | Whole-body photography plus a physical examination | A dermatologist in person | Lots of moles, a family history, or a previous skin cancer |
The middle route works because of who's reading the picture. When a specialist reads dermoscopic images, teledermoscopy triage catches around 99% of melanomas, cuts the time to expert advice to about a day, and is linked to thinner melanomas at diagnosis. Stand-alone AI apps manage a pooled sensitivity of 91% and specificity of 64%, worse on smartphone images and on darker skin. That's why Map My Mole, a British team of consultant dermatologists, puts a person at the end of the process rather than an algorithm.
Use it for the mole that's nagging you, the one on your back you can't judge yourself, or the ugly duckling you want a second opinion on. It's a way to get a specialist's eyes on a concern quickly. It isn't a screening programme and it doesn't promise to find everything.
When should you see a GP about a mole?
If a mole or mark is changing, bleeding, crusting, itching, or simply won't go away, book the appointment. The same goes for anything that's bothering you without ticking a single box on the list. A GP will not think you've wasted their time. They would far rather see you now than later.
What happens next is quick and routine. If the GP suspects melanoma they refer you urgently, which in the UK means a specialist appointment within two weeks. The specialist looks at the mark with a dermatoscope, and if it still looks suspicious it's removed under local anaesthetic and sent to the lab. Most of the time, that's the end of it.
Does checking your skin yourself actually save lives?
Nobody has proved it in a trial. Reviews of population screening find the evidence on deaths is thin, so we won't call a skin check a life-saver and we won't promise an outcome. What the evidence does show is that thinner melanomas have far better survival, and that getting a specialist's eyes on a mark quickly is linked to thinner melanomas at diagnosis.
So a skin check doesn't diagnose you. Its job is to turn "I noticed it in March" into "I got it looked at in March". That's the whole difference, and it's one you control.
What about stopping it in the first place?
Cancer Research UK's wording is that up to 9 in 10 cases of melanoma skin cancer could be prevented by staying safe in the sun and avoiding sunbeds. Detection is half the equation. The other half is the one step in the morning: our SPF 30 Daily Protection Moisturiser, massaged in like any face moisturiser.
Winter isn't sunburn weather and we won't pretend it is. The point is the habit: do it every morning and it's already on when UK sun starts to matter again, and it earns its place on skin comfort alone. If you're flying to the snow, that's a different conversation. Snow throws up to 80% of UV straight back at you, and the SPF 50+ Mineral Sun Stick goes in the bag before the boots.
Skin check questions people ask
How often should I check my skin for moles?
Every two to three months is a realistic rhythm you'll keep. Photograph each mole in good light, store the pictures by date in one album, and compare the new set against the last. The comparison is what matters. If anything has grown, changed shape or colour, or appeared from nowhere, get it looked at.
What does a changing mole look like?
Use ABCDE: asymmetry, a ragged border, more than one colour, a diameter bigger than a pencil end, and anything evolving. A change in size, shape or colour is the clearest signal. Itching, crusting, bleeding or a mole that just looks different from all your others also count. New marks matter as much as changed ones.
Can a phone app check my moles for melanoma?
Not reliably on its own. Stand-alone AI apps manage around 91% sensitivity and 64% specificity, and do worse on smartphone images and darker skin. Photo checks work when a specialist reads the image: teledermoscopy with a dermatologist catches around 99% of melanomas. The person reading the picture is the part that counts.
Do I need to check my skin if I have darker skin?
Yes. Melanoma is much less common in darker skin, but when it occurs it's found later, and the commonest type sits on the palms, soles and under the nails. Check those spots first, and remember sunburn on deeper skin tones often shows as tightness, itching or darkening rather than redness.
Now you know. Pick a Sunday, find the light, and look.
