Skin cancer doesn’t have one single look. It can show up as a shiny bump, a scaly patch, a sore that won’t heal, a changing mole, or even a dark streak under a fingernail. The appearance depends on which type of skin cancer it is and the color of your skin. Here’s what to look for across every major type.
Basal Cell Carcinoma
Basal cell carcinoma is the most common skin cancer, and it often looks deceptively harmless. On lighter skin, it typically appears as a firm, raised, round growth that’s shiny and pink or red. On darker skin tones, the same growth tends to be brown, black, or blue. Sometimes it’s the same color as the surrounding skin, making it easy to overlook entirely.
Beyond the classic “pearly bump,” basal cell carcinoma takes several other forms. It can look like a round area with a dip in the center that scabs over and bleeds. It can appear as a rough, scaly patch, and some people develop several patches at once. A spot that resembles a freckle or age spot but feels scaly to the touch can also be basal cell carcinoma. One of the most telling signs is a sore that heals and then comes back, or one that simply never heals at all.
Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common type and tends to look more textured and irritated than basal cell. It often appears as a firm bump (called a nodule) that can be pink, red, brown, or black depending on your skin tone, or match the color of your skin. It can also show up as a flat sore with a scaly crust on top.
Pay attention to scars and old wounds. A new sore or raised area developing on a pre-existing scar is a possible sign. On the lips, squamous cell carcinoma often starts as a rough, scaly patch that may eventually open into a sore. It can also appear as a wartlike growth in areas you might not expect, including inside the mouth or on the genitals.
Melanoma and the ABCDE Rule
Melanoma accounts for a smaller share of skin cancers but is the most dangerous. An estimated 112,000 new cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2026 alone. The good news is that melanoma has some of the most recognizable warning signs of any cancer, summarized by the ABCDE rule:
- Asymmetry: One half of the mole doesn’t match the other half.
- Border: The edges are ragged, notched, or blurred rather than smooth. Pigment may spread into the surrounding skin.
- Color: The mole contains multiple shades of brown, black, or tan, possibly with areas of white, gray, red, pink, or blue mixed in.
- Diameter: Most melanomas are larger than 6 millimeters wide (about the size of a pencil eraser), though they can be smaller.
- Evolving: The mole has changed in size, shape, or color over recent weeks or months.
A mole doesn’t need to check every box to be suspicious. Any single one of these features is worth getting examined.
The Ugly Duckling Sign
If you have many freckles or moles, there’s a simpler screening trick: look for the one that doesn’t match the rest. Maybe it’s scabbed over, has grown, or is more raised than the others. That one spot that stands out from its neighbors is what dermatologists call the “ugly duckling” sign, and it can be an early warning of melanoma even when the ABCDE criteria aren’t obvious yet.
Skin Cancer on Darker Skin Tones
Skin cancer is often associated with sun-damaged, fair skin, but it occurs in people of all skin tones, and it can look different. The most common form of melanoma in people with dark skin is acral lentiginous melanoma, which appears in places that get little to no sun exposure: the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, and on fingers, toes, and nail beds.
On a palm or the bottom of a foot, this type looks like a dark, irregularly shaped patch. Under a nail, it appears as a dark band running lengthwise. It’s especially important to have a doctor evaluate a nail band that starts to widen or if the dark pigment extends onto the skin around the nail. Because these locations are easy to miss during routine checks, skin cancer in darker-skinned individuals is often caught at a later stage.
Precancerous Spots: Actinic Keratosis
Not every suspicious spot is cancer yet, but some are headed there. Actinic keratosis is a rough, scaly patch caused by years of sun exposure that can eventually develop into squamous cell carcinoma. On the head and neck, these patches tend to lie flat against the skin. On the arms and hands, they’re more likely to feel like small, raised bumps.
The base color varies widely: light, dark, tan, pink, red, or skin-toned. The surface feels horny, dry, and rough, almost like sandpaper. Because actinic keratosis can be hard to distinguish from actual skin cancer by appearance alone, any rough patch that persists for more than a few weeks is worth having checked.
Less Common Types
Merkel cell carcinoma is rare but aggressive. It typically appears as a dome-shaped nodule in shades of red, purple, or pink. The hallmark of Merkel cell carcinoma is speed: these growths expand rapidly, sometimes doubling in size within weeks. They’re often painless, which makes them easy to dismiss as a cyst or bug bite until they’ve grown significantly.
Melanoma can also appear under a fingernail or toenail as a vertical brown or black band, sometimes looking like a streak of paint or marker residue. The key warning signs for a nail band include increasing width, blurred borders, and pigment spreading to the skin around the nail.
How to Check Your Own Skin
A thorough self-exam takes about 10 minutes and requires a full-length mirror and a hand mirror. The goal is to look at every square inch of skin, including the spots people commonly skip. Start with your face, ears, neck, chest, and belly. Women should lift their breasts to check the skin underneath. Move to your underarms, both sides of your arms, the tops and palms of your hands, between your fingers, and under your fingernails.
For the lower body, check the front of your thighs, shins, tops of your feet, between your toes, and under your toenails. Use the hand mirror to examine the bottoms of your feet, calves, backs of your thighs, buttocks, and genital area. For your back and the back of your neck, angle the hand mirror against the wall mirror. Use a comb or hair dryer to part your hair section by section so you can see your entire scalp.
The single most important thing you’re looking for is change. A new growth that wasn’t there before, a mole that looks different than it did a few months ago, or a sore that keeps coming back after healing. Taking photos of your moles over time makes it much easier to spot subtle shifts in size, shape, or color that you might otherwise miss.