Unlike other cancers where
there are specific age guidelines for diagnostic screenings, there is no age
recommendation for
skin cancer screenings. Therefore, dermatologists have
reiterated the importance of self-examinations for early signs of skin cancer
such as suspicious moles or lesions, and continued communication with their
dermatologists.
In the study, Dr. Ferris reviewed the cases of 167 patients diagnosed with
melanoma over a five-year period and determined which groups of patients were
most likely and least likely to detect their own melanomas before being
evaluated by a dermatologist. The study found that 101 of the melanomas, or 60.5 percent, were found by
the patients but that the older a person was, the more melanomas
they missed during self-examinations. In particular, men who were 50 years or
older were more likely to be diagnosed with invasive melanoma than
women of the same age or younger participants of either gender.