Moles

Tiny circular or oval dark marks on the skin are called moles. They are a compilation of skin pigment cells known as melanocytes. They are generally brownish in colour, although some may vary from being darker or skin coloured. They may be smooth or rough, flat or raised, and sometimes hair may grow from them. Their look may change with time, and they even react to hormonal changes, for instance during pregnancy, menopause or adolescence. At times, a mole may vanish or fall off, without your notice.
Moles that are present at birth are termed as congenital moelanocytic naevi. Mostly moles appear in the initial twenty years of life. Halo naevi refers to those moles that are noticed in children and young adults. These have a white ring around them, where the skin colour is lost. The colour of the skin re-appears when the mole vanishes, which takes a couple of years. Skin blemishes that imitate moles are called Seborrhoeis keratoses. These are more common among elderly people and are non cancerous.
Malignant Melanoma
Moles are mostly harmless, however at times; they have a tendency to advance into malignant melanoma, a hostile kind of cancer of the skin. It is the most severe kind of skin cancer and is the result of small periods of heavy sunlight. This condition can take place in any part of the body, in the form of dark, quick developing spots in a place where it didn’t exist earlier. Sometimes a mole that is already present may change its size, colour or shape, and tends to bleed, itch or get reddish.
Diagnosis
It is essential to get your moles checked regularly and notice the changes in its size, shape or colour. Most of the changes occur due to a boosting the amount of skin pigment cells. However abnormal and unusual moles must be checked out.
First and foremost, your GP will enquire about the changes that took place in your mole. If only slight changes are noticed, he/she will take an experimental photograph of the mole, to compare it with the later changes that will take place, and follow up. Then, they study the family’s medical history, regarding the probability or possibility of melanoma. If your mole turns out to be malignant (or cancerous), you will be referred to a dermatologist or plastic surgeon by your GP.
The skin expert will first study you, either reassuring you or cutting out the mole itself (known as excision biopsy). If the mole is suspicious, and the doctor decides to take it out, a small sample is sent to the laboratory, to examine the cell changes by looking at it under a microscope.

Treatment of cancerous or unsightly moles
If abnormal cell changes are noticed in the mole, the surrounding skin needs to be removed. If melanoma is at its initial stage, it can simply be taken out using an easy surgical technique. It is so because the melanoma is very thin and not developed fully yet. If it has been detected in the later stages, the cancerous cells multiply throughout the lymphatic system or the bloodstream and generate tumours in the body.