Skin cancer can look like a pearly bump, a scaly red patch, a sore that won’t heal, or a mole that’s changed shape or color. There’s no single appearance because the three main types of skin cancer each show up differently on the skin, and they look different depending on your skin tone. Knowing what to watch for on your own body is one of the most practical things you can do, since localized melanoma (the most dangerous common type) has a nearly 100% five-year survival rate when caught early.
Basal Cell Carcinoma
Basal cell carcinoma is the most common skin cancer, and it often looks deceptively minor. On lighter skin, it typically appears as a small, slightly transparent or pearly bump that’s skin-colored or pink. You might notice tiny blood vessels visible on or near the surface. On brown and Black skin, the bump often looks brown or glossy black with a rolled, raised border, and those tiny blood vessels can be harder to spot.
Not all basal cell carcinomas look like bumps, though. They can also show up as a flat, scaly patch that slowly grows larger over time, a brown or blue lesion with dark spots and a slightly raised border, or a white, waxy, scar-like area with no clear edge. One of the most telling signs is a sore that bleeds, scabs over, and then reopens repeatedly without fully healing. If you have a spot that cycles through bleeding and scabbing for weeks, that’s worth getting checked.
Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Squamous cell carcinoma tends to look rougher and more textured than basal cell. Common appearances include a firm bump (nodule) on the skin that can be pink, red, brown, or black depending on your skin tone, or a flat sore topped with a scaly crust. It can also appear as a rough, scaly patch on the lip that may develop into an open sore, or as a raised, wart-like growth.
One pattern to watch for: a new sore or raised area forming on top of an old scar or a spot that was previously damaged. Squamous cell carcinoma tends to develop in areas with cumulative sun exposure, so the face, ears, hands, and forearms are common locations. Inside the mouth and on the genitals are less common but possible sites.
Melanoma and the ABCDE Rule
Melanoma is less common than the other two types but far more likely to spread. The standard way to evaluate a suspicious mole uses five features, known as the ABCDE criteria.
- Asymmetry: One half of the mole doesn’t match the other half in shape.
- Border: The edges are ragged, notched, or blurred rather than smooth. Pigment may bleed into the surrounding skin.
- Color: Multiple shades are present in a single mole, including combinations of black, brown, tan, white, gray, red, pink, or blue.
- Diameter: Most melanomas are larger than 6 millimeters (about the size of a pencil eraser), though they can be smaller.
- Evolving: The mole has visibly changed in size, shape, or color over weeks or months.
Any single one of these features is worth paying attention to. A mole that checks multiple boxes warrants a prompt evaluation. The “evolving” feature is especially important because change over time is one of the strongest signals, even when a mole doesn’t look dramatically abnormal at any single moment.
The Ugly Duckling Sign
There’s another screening shortcut that complements the ABCDE rule. Most of your moles tend to resemble each other in size, shape, and color. A melanoma often stands out as the “ugly duckling,” the one mole that looks noticeably different from everything else on your body. If you have a cluster of small, round, brown moles and one of them is larger, darker, or irregularly shaped, that outlier deserves closer attention.
What Skin Cancer Looks Like on Darker Skin
Skin cancer looks different on darker skin tones, and it also tends to appear in different locations. The most common form of melanoma in people with dark skin is acral lentiginous melanoma, which develops on the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, and under the fingernails or toenails. It can look like a dark patch on your palm or the bottom of your foot, or a dark band running lengthwise under a nail.
A dark streak under a nail is easy to dismiss, but it’s especially important to have it checked if the band starts to widen or spread. Basal cell carcinoma on darker skin often has a brown or glossy black appearance with a rolled border, which can be mistaken for a regular mole. Because skin cancer awareness campaigns have historically focused on lighter skin, people with darker skin are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage, when treatment is more difficult.
Precancerous Spots to Watch
Actinic keratoses are rough, dry, scaly patches that develop from years of sun exposure. They’re typically less than an inch across, flat or slightly raised, and can be pink, red, or brown. Some feel like sandpaper when you run your finger over them. They may itch, burn, bleed, or develop a crust.
These spots are precancerous, meaning they can develop into squamous cell carcinoma over time if left untreated. Not every actinic keratosis becomes cancer, but there’s no reliable way to predict which ones will, so dermatologists generally treat them. If you have a scaly patch that persists, grows, or bleeds, it’s worth having evaluated rather than assuming it’s just dry skin.
Spots That Look Scary but Aren’t
Seborrheic keratoses are one of the most common benign growths that people mistake for skin cancer. They’re waxy, slightly raised, and can range from light tan to black. They sometimes look like unusual scabs stuck to the skin. They can appear anywhere on the body and tend to multiply with age.
The key differences from melanoma: seborrheic keratoses are typically flat and waxy with a “pasted on” appearance, painless, and stable over time. Melanoma tends to be asymmetrical, have irregular borders, contain multiple colors, and change noticeably over weeks or months. That said, distinguishing the two by sight alone isn’t always straightforward, even for experienced clinicians. A new dark spot that you can’t confidently identify is always reasonable to have examined.
Rare Types That Grow Fast
Merkel cell carcinoma is uncommon but aggressive. It typically shows up as a painless bump on the skin that grows rapidly, often on the face, head, or neck. The bump can look pink, purple, red-brown, or skin-colored, and its two halves may not match (similar to the asymmetry seen in melanoma). The speed of growth is the distinguishing feature. A bump that appears and noticeably enlarges over just a few weeks is more concerning than one that’s been stable for years.
How to Check Your Own Skin
The American Academy of Dermatology recommends regular self-exams using a full-length mirror and a hand mirror. Start by looking at your body front and back in the full-length mirror, then raise your arms and check both sides. Bend your elbows and carefully examine your forearms, underarms, fingernails, and palms. Check the backs of your legs and feet, the spaces between your toes, your toenails, and your soles. Use the hand mirror to examine the back of your neck and scalp, parting your hair for a closer look. Finally, check your back and buttocks with the hand mirror.
The goal isn’t to diagnose anything yourself. It’s to learn what your skin normally looks like so you notice when something changes. Taking photos of moles you want to track can make it much easier to spot subtle shifts in size, shape, or color over months. Any spot that’s new, changing, bleeding, or simply looks different from everything else on your body is worth bringing up at your next appointment.