If it is changing, get it looked at — and this is one of the few places where we will tell you not to rely on a remote consultation.
The signs that matter:
- Change in size, shape or colour — the single most important feature
- Asymmetry, or an irregular or blurred border
- More than one colour within the same lesion
- Larger than about 6mm, or growing
- Itching, bleeding, crusting or not healing
- A mole that looks unlike all your others — the "ugly duckling", and a genuinely useful test
Why not a photograph? Melanoma is assessed with dermoscopy — a magnified, polarised view of structures beneath the surface that no phone camera reproduces. A photograph can prompt an urgent referral, but it cannot safely reassure you. A falsely reassuring answer about a melanoma is the most serious mistake this service could make, so we will not offer one.
What we can do: take the history, look at the images, and arrange an urgent two-week-wait referral where it is warranted. That NHS pathway is free and fast, and we will send you down it rather than charge you to wait.