Early detection of skin melanoma is essential: it offers a better chance of cure. It involves regularly examining your skin yourself, so you can spot any suspicious lesion.

PPRACTICE SELF-EXAMINATION OF THE SKIN
The best way to detect melanoma very early is to self-examine your skin
Skin self-examinations are recommended once every three months, especially if you have one or more risk factors for melanoma.

Practice this self-exam regularly by observing all parts of your body, from head to toe. It helps you spot any suspicious lesion early and become familiar with your skin, your moles, and your freckles.

What may worry you:
An old skin lesion that starts bleeding when you touch it, gets bigger, or changes;
A sore that doesn’t heal;
A brown spot or a bump that appears on the skin and persists;
A mole that looks different from the others. All the moles on a person look alike.

So the one that “isn’t like the others” should catch your attention. That’s the “ugly duckling” principle;

A mole that changes appearance quickly (in its shape, size, color, or thickness).

Use the ABCDE criteria to help you.
The “rule ABCDE    ” can help you recognize the warning signs:
A for Asymmetry: the mole is not regular, not round, not oval, and its raised areas are not distributed evenly around its center;
B for Irregular Borders: its edges are irregular and poorly defined;
C for Color: it has more than one color (black, blue, brown, red, or white);
D for Diameter: it is large (more than 6 mm);
E for Evolution: it is changing and growing, it changes in thickness and color.

The presence of one or more of these signs does not necessarily mean you have melanoma, but it does justify seeking medical advice without waiting.