All types of skin cancers like squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, and melanoma often start with changes to the skin. When detected early, skin cancer is treatable.

Here are early warning signs of skin cancer:

• The appearance of a new spot on the skin.
• Change in the size, color, and shape of a spot.
• A spot that appears different from other spots present on your body.
• One half of a birthmark or mole appears asymmetrical from the other part.
• The borders or edges appear blurred, ragged, irregular, or blotched.
• Color is not consistent throughout the mole and may have shades of black or brown or pink, white, red, or blue patches.
• The spot is more than six millimeters across (similar to the size of a pencil eraser).
• The mole appears to evolve in shape, color, and size.
• The surface of the mole changes (oozing, scaliness, bleeding, or appearance of a bump or lump).
• Swelling or redness that goes beyond the edges of the mole.
• Non-healing sores.
• Modified sensation like pain, itchiness, or tenderness.
• Spreading of the pigment from the border to the surrounding skin.

Other signs of skin cancer include

• The appearance of scaly and small patches on hands, head, or skin often caused due to overexposure to the sun.
• Persistent roughness or scaly patches on the lips.
• Swelling of the lips, prominent lip lines, and loss of sharp border between the skin and lip.
• Funnel-shaped growths are known as cutaneous horns extending from a red base on the skin.

Warning signs of melanoma

• Change in the appearance of pigmented area or mole.
• Alternations to the color, shape, and size of a mole.
• Moles with irregular edges that are more than one color or bleeds, itches, or oozes.

Warning signs of squamous cell carcinoma

• May appear as a red firm module.
• Scaly bleeding growth on the skin.
• Crusted growth on the skin.
• A sore that doesn’t heal.
• Often appears in areas exposed to the sun like forehead, hands, nose, lower lip, and ears.

Warning signs of Bowen disease

• The appearance of scaly reddish patches that may be mistaken for psoriasis, rashes, fungus, or eczema.
• Spreads outward on the skin’s surface.

Warning signs of basal cell carcinoma

• Pearly white or waxy bump with visible blood vessels on the face, ears, and neck.
• White waxy scar (in some rare cases).
• Flat, flesh-colored or brown, and patches on the chest or back.

Kaposi’s sarcoma is a less common type of skin cancer and affects people with a weak immune system. Another aggressive skin cancer that begins in the oil glands on the skin is known as sebaceous gland carcinoma. Merkel cell carcinoma is often found in areas of the skin exposed to sun, such as the neck, legs, head, or arms but in some cases may affect other parts of the body.