Mole Screening- why it is vital to protect your health?

Skin cancers are continuing to increase year on year, despite us being more educated around using sun protection.

Why should you check moles regularly?

It’s important to check your skin and moles regularly. New moles or marks on your skin, or changes to an existing mole could be a sign of a type of skin cancer called melanoma. Melanoma is the fifth most common type of cancer in the UK. The good news is, the earlier it’s spotted and treated, the better the outcome is. There are also non melanoma skin cancers, these are known as squamous cell carcinomas and basal cell carcinomas, wand whilst these are much lower in risk of becoming invasive and spreading to other parts of the body, they still grow within the skin and need surgically removing, so the earlier they are caught the easier the surgery and the smaller the scar.

Am I at risk of skin cancer?

Most people know that getting sunburn increases the chances of getting skin cancer. But studies suggest you are more at risk of skin cancer if you:

•⁠ ⁠have fair skin that burns easily, particularly if you also have fair hair and lots of freckles, we call this skin type 1-2.

•⁠ ⁠expose your skin to the sun, either over long periods or for short intense periods like while on holiday

•⁠ ⁠use sunbeds or have a history of using sunbeds

•⁠ ⁠have lots of moles – having more than 100 moles on your body increases your risk of skin cancer

•⁠ ⁠have large moles (most melanomas are at least 6mm wide)

•⁠ ⁠have people in your family who have had skin cancer

•⁠ ⁠are taking medicines that affect your immune system, or are immunocompromised due to another health condition

If you meet any of these risk factors it is important to have annual skin screening, just like you get you teeth check by the dentist 1-2 yearly.

At the York Skin Clinic we want to make mole screening as normal as going to the dentist, your skin is the largest organ and part of our bodies defence system it is so important to look after your skin and protect yourself from skin cancers.

We offer full body mole screening by trained and experienced skin cancer specialist nurses, during mole screening they will check your skin from the scalp, down to the soles of your feet including nail and nail beds.