boglapuri: Detect Skin Cancer | Women's Health Magazine

I stared at the mole every time I looked in the mirror for 3 years before I learned it was skin cancer.

In that time, I saw five doctors. Three general practitioners never mentioned it. One ophthalmologist told me it was probably a skin tag, but did warn me it could be cancer. She took measurements; I moved across the country.

Nearly a year later, another ophthalmologist asked me what it was. "Just a skin tag," I told her. She nodded in agreement.

Christopher Miller, M.D., director of dermatologic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, spotted it immediately.

A Chance Diagnosis
I was interviewing Dr. Miller for a story about my colleague, Adam Campbell, who was undergoing surgery to remove a spot of skin cancer from his nose. I sat in the operating room guest chair, and as Dr. Miller was preparing Adam, he turned to me mid-sentence.

"How long have you had that spot on your eye?"

I was sitting 6 feet away. But from that distance, Dr. Miller could see the telltale waxy surface of my 2-millimiter mole.

Dr. Miller biopsied it that day. The verdict: Basal call carcinoma, just as he thought. Two months later, he surgically removed it. (Scroll down to see my eye after it had healed from the surgery.)

Types of Skin Cancer
Basal cell carcinoma is known as "disfiguring" cancer, which is?believe it or not?good news. Even though 8 in 10 skin cancers in the U.S. are basal cell cancers, more than 75 percent of skin cancer deaths are due to melanoma.

But the signs of basal cell are much more subtle. Melanoma looks like cancer?dark, bulbous, ominous. As a health journalist, I knew the signs well: ABCDE, for asymmetry, border irregularity, uneven color, diameter bigger 6 mm, and evolving shape or size.

Basal cell is more complicated to spot. It can look like a waxy, shiny mole. Adam's appeared to be a pimple that wouldn't go away. They also can bleed, ooze, or crust over.

How did Dr. Miller recognize mine? "The skin cancers on the eyelid can present in multiple ways," he explains. "Sometimes they're bleeding spots, sometimes people think they're just a sty. Yours had a shiny texture on it, and the color was pink to pearly. You had a classic presentation of basal cell cancer."

What You May Not Know
Since cancer can look like a pimple, it's important to have a yearly skin cancer check, Dr. Miller says. You don't even have to see a dermatologist.

"Many general practitioners are skilled in detecting skin cancer," says Dr. Miller?though some aren't, he adds. "To make sure a doctor is qualified, first I'd ask if he or she was comfortable with the skin exam and feels comfortable detecting skin cancers."

During your exam, make sure your doctor is checking over your body. "It may become clear to you the doctor is spending more time with his eyes closed listening to the stethoscope instead of taking the chance to survey your back when he's listening to your lungs. That may be a clue to you without asking a question that checking your skin is not a priority for your doctor."

"If you're getting a complete physical exam, that's a great opportunity to get a skin exam?you just want to make sure your doctor looks at the skin, not through the skin," Dr. Miller adds.

Unless you have the initials M.D. behind your name, don't assume you'll catch a spot of skin cancer on your own. In one dermatology clinic, doctors detected 82 percent of melanomas among regular patients; the patients themselves detected the remaining 18 percent, according to a recent study.

Risks and Realities
After hearing my story, my friends all have the same reaction: "Oh my god, I'm so paranoid now."

Statistically, they should be. One out of 5 people will develop skin cancer in his or her lifetime. And although it's still more common in white men over the age of 50, the rate of basal cell carcinoma in women under 40 has increased sixfold from 1976 to 2003, according to a U.S. study. (I'm only 26.)

"I've had people who didn't think that skin cancer was even a possibility for them at that age, so they ended up neglecting spots that could have been treated much more simply earlier," Dr. Miller explains. "Sun protection makes a huge difference in a younger person, and so does making sure skin cancer's on your radar. Realize that if you get a new or changing lesion on your skin that skin cancer is a possibility, and have a doctor perform a yearly skin cancer exam."