Funny looking mole on forearm

A funny looking mole on someone’s forearm. As we say in England, ‘funny peculiar, not funny ‘ha ha!’

Note the background of white, sun-damaged skin.

This mole looks wrong. It violates the ABCD rules, it is Asymmetrical, the Border is irregular, Colour is mixed, and the Diameter is over 6mm.

Dermoscopy is even worse.

Chaos! Chaos in dermoscopy (as in the famous ‘chaos and clues’ algorithm) means multiple colours and multiple structures mixed up in a non-symmetrical arrangement. This lesion exhibits a high degree of chaos.

Clues to melanoma include asymmetric dots and clods (globules), featureless blue-grey areas, and a featureless pink area.

Histopathological diagnosis was melanoma, thankfully a thin one of 0.3mm, associated with a close to 100% cure rate.

Early diagnosis of melanoma saves lives. That’s why I maintain this blog at my own expense.