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Skin Cancer Explained

Can you feel skin cancer? All of your important questions answered

Skin cancer and melanoma symptoms to look out for.
A woman with a small mole on her shoulder, raising awareness about the importance of skin cancer detection and prevention
MoleMap Team
April 27, 2021
6 minutes

Skin can­cer, both of the melanoma and non-melanoma vari­eties, are by far one of the most press­ing issues that Aus­tralians face every year. Between 2013 and 2014, for exam­ple, there were 23,437 hos­pi­tal­i­sa­tions in the coun­try that were specif­i­cal­ly relat­ed to melanoma. In 2014, there were over 40,179 and 959,243 Medicare ben­e­fits claims paid out for melanoma and non-melanoma skin can­cers, respectively.

A huge num­ber of dif­fer­ent fac­tors go into deter­min­ing your risk for devel­op­ing skin can­cer includ­ing your fam­i­ly his­to­ry, your lifestyle, and even the cli­mate itself. Because of this, it is absolute­ly imper­a­tive that you know what to watch out for. This allows you to take action on a small prob­lem today before it becomes a much big­ger one lat­er on.

Case in point: Did you know that you can actu­al­ly feel some of the warn­ing signs of cer­tain types of skin can­cers? It’s true — and your abil­i­ty to know what to look for and where to mon­i­tor may very well be the piece of knowl­edge that actu­al­ly saves your life.

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Can you feel skin can­cer? The facts behind the myth

First thing’s first — no, you can­not feel skin can­cer, at least not in the same way you would a stom­ach ache or some­thing like that. What you can feel, how­ev­er, are some of the warn­ing signs and symp­toms that skin can­cer might bring with it like itch­i­ness, burn­ing, and so on.

These skin cancer symptoms will vary depend­ing on the area of your body that is affect­ed. This is why it is always impor­tant to get to know your own skin as well as you can.

The symp­toms of basal cell car­ci­no­ma

One of the most com­mon types of skin can­cer in Aus­tralia is basal cell skin can­cer, some­thing that makes up an astound­ing 70% of all non-melanoma skin can­cers each year.

Also com­mon­ly referred to as BCC, this will actu­al­ly begin in the low­er lay­er of the epi­der­mis (which is the top­most por­tion of your skin). It can appear absolute­ly any­where on your body, and it brings with it a num­ber of warn­ing signs you need to be aware of.

Com­mon­ly, BCC will first appear in the form of a lump some­where on an area of your skin that gets a lot of sun expo­sure. It can be shiny, pink, pearly, translu­cent, or even waxy. Like­wise, it can also take the form of a red or scaly patch.

Regard­less of which form it takes or where it hap­pens to appear, it is very like­ly that the affect­ed areas will get even more irri­tat­ed in the sun­light so pay atten­tion very carefully.

Luck­i­ly, basal cell car­ci­no­ma tends to grow very slow­ly (at least when com­pared to oth­er types of skin can­cer) and doesn’t usu­al­ly spread to oth­er parts of the body.

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Detect­ing squa­mous cell skin can­cer

Also com­mon­ly referred to as SCC, squa­mous cell car­ci­no­ma accounts for the remain­ing 30% of all non-melanoma skin can­cers in Aus­tralia. Once again, it begins in the upper lay­er of the epi­der­mis and typ­i­cal­ly appears on the parts of your body that see the most expo­sure to the sun.

Unlike BCC, SCC cells can grow very quick­ly — some­times over only a few months or even weeks.

Affect­ed sites on your body will typ­i­cal­ly include your low­er legs, your fore­arms, your hands, your head, and even your neck. Be on the look­out for a firm, pink-coloured lump that has either a crusty or a rough sur­face. Note that this area will like­ly be very ten­der and can bleed quite eas­i­ly. This is one of the most imme­di­ate signs that you need to see a pro­fes­sion­al for prop­er detec­tion and skin cancer treatment.

Melanoma: The most dan­ger­ous form of skin can­cer

Final­ly, we arrive at melanoma — cer­tain­ly not the most com­mon type of skin can­cer in Aus­tralia, but absolute­ly the most deadly.

In 2014, for exam­ple, there were 13,134 new cas­es of melanoma in the coun­try, mak­ing up an incred­i­ble 10% of all can­cer diag­noses. The very next year, in 2015, there were over 1,500 deaths direct­ly attrib­uted to this par­tic­u­lar form of skin cancer.

Unfor­tu­nate­ly, melanoma often has no symp­toms — at least, not obvi­ous ones. Because of this, it is very uncom­mon for there to be some type of warn­ing sign that you can actu­al­ly ​“feel.” Usu­al­ly, melanoma devel­ops from total­ly new moles or takes the form of changes to old ones.

If a mole appears to get big­ger over time, if it has an irreg­u­lar bor­der or an increase in height, if it changes colours and becomes blotchy or is par­tic­u­lar­ly prone to itch­ing or bleed­ing, you may be deal­ing with melanoma, and you should get your­self to a doc­tor right away.

MoleMap: Fight­ing Skin Can­cer, Togeth­er

In an age where two-thirds of the Aus­tralian pop­u­la­tion will be diag­nosed with some form of skin can­cer by the time they reach age 70, to say that accu­rate detec­tion is impor­tant is some­thing of an understatement.

This is, in part, the need that MoleMap skin cancer clinics was designed to fill. It is an invalu­able ser­vice for you to spot skin can­cer in its ear­li­est and most treat­able stages.

If you’d like to find out more about the warn­ing signs and oth­er symp­toms of skin can­cer, or if you have any oth­er ques­tions you’d like to see answered, please don’t hes­i­tate to con­tact us today.

You can also vis­it our web­site and take our 1‑minute risk check – if you’re medi­um to high risk, it’s a good idea to have an annu­al skin check and mole check.

MoleMap Team

At MoleMap we check, detect and treat skin cancer. Find out how you can protect your skin at your nearest MoleMap skin cancer clinic.

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MoleMap specialises in skin cancer detection, diagnosis, proactive monitoring and treatment. Want the best protection against melanoma and other skin cancers? Get your skin and moles checked early and often at a MoleMap skin cancer clinic.