Keep An Eye On Your Moles
(and I'm not talking about the little critters that destroy your yard and landscaping)

Do a skin check every month. Checking more frequent than a month will be hard to recognize a change. Checking less frequent than a month will increase the risk of missing the most dangerous melanomas (a form of skin cancer), which grows rapidly.

The ABCDE's of checking moles:

A - Asymmetry
B - Border irregularity
C - Color changes
D - Diameter greater than a pencil eraser
E - Evolution or change

Use the Ugly Duckling Method

Normal moles tend to be similar to each another. Those that don't appear to be in the same family, because of color, size, shape, or texture (the ugly duckling of the bunch), should be checked out by your dermatologist!!

Estimated new cases and deaths from melanoma in the United States in 2008:

New cases - 62,480
Deaths - 8,420

Oh, wow... I didn't realize moles can cause deaths!

Yeah, aren't those numbers unbelievable!!