Women Please Closely Inspect Your Men from a Memphis Dermatologist

Jun 15, 2025
6 min read

by George Woodbury Jr. M.D. (06/15/2025)

A Skin Cancer Screening is an opportunity to detect Melanoma Skin Cancer early — Memphis Dermatologist Dr. George Woodbury with a patient undergoing a Skin Cancer Screening

About one American loses his or her life needlessly to Melanoma, a type of Skin Cancer, every 54 minutes. That’s about 9300 needless American deaths due to Melanoma each year. And if a man develops a Melanoma, there’s a higher chance it’ll be detected late, when compared with a woman developing Melanoma. Furthermore, that Melanoma will be more difficult to treat, if it’s detected late.

A Skin Cancer Screening involves looking over a person's entire body including between the hairs and on the back and in the groin — Couple doing their own Skin Cancer Screening to check for Melanoma Skin Cancer

Dermatologists like myself have long known that many Skin Cancers including Melanoma are first detected by a person’s wife or girlfriend, who detects a Mole or Skin Growth that doesn’t look right. We men are guilty of not inspecting our wives or girlfriends closely enough, because our track record in first detecting Skin Cancer lags behind the track record of women. So now that Summer’s arrived, I would argue that we also need to do a complete inspection on our loved ones, your own Skin Cancer Screening.

A Skin Cancer Screening involves closely inspecting Moles and Skin Growths — Dermatologist doing a Skin Cancer Screening on a man's back to check for Melanoma Skin Cancer

I’m talking about a complete inspection – because many Skin Cancers occur on parts of the body that a person doesn’t always himself or herself look at – like the back or in the groin or even in the hair-bearing parts of the scalp.

The most common location for Melanoma in men is on the back and in women it's on the legs — Couple doing their own Skin Cancer Screening to check for Melanoma Skin Cancer

So let’s take a look at the differences between a Mole and a Melanoma Skin Cancer, what causes these skin growths, and at Melanoma treatment, my perspective being that of a Board-certified Dermatologist, because since 1993, I have practiced as a Memphis Dermatologist with Rheumatology and Dermatology Associates, 8143 Walnut Grove Road, Cordova TN 38018 (1-901-753-0168; www.Rheumderm.com/dermatology).

Melanoma with a dark Color and an irregular Border — The photo above shows a characteristic Melanoma on a person's forehead

The skin’s protective pigment is called melanin, and it’s made from melanin-producing cells, called melanocytes. Melanin acts to prevent damage to our body’s DNA from ultraviolet light from the sun. A Mole is a collection of melanin-producing cells, and it’s quite normal for the average American to have between 5 and 35 Moles, often developing them between the ages of 5 and 35. But it’s ironic that the very cells that make this protective pigment, the melanocytes, can at times go haywire and start dividing out of control, becoming Melanoma. Melanoma is a less common type of Skin Cancer than Basal Cell Carcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma, but Melanoma is also the most dangerous type of Skin Cancer.

Melanoma often has ABCDE warning signs of Skin Cancer such as an enlarging Diameter and an Evolving or changing nature — Melnaoma Skin Cancer with a dark Color and irregular Border

Melanoma can develop in the skin, in the back of the eye (the Retina), in the mouth or sinuses, and even in the spinal cord. It can grow out of normal skin or out of a pre-existing normal mole, or arise as a growth right within the skin. Sometimes it can start out in a Mole that was present at birth, called a Congenital Mole, or Congenital Nevus.

It's advisable to use a Broad-spectrum Sunscreen with an SPF rating of over 30 and to reapply every ninety minutes — Children can be subject to Melanoma too

Melanoma can occur in both kids and adults. About 1500 of the 75,000 cases of invasive Melanoma that will develop this year arise in people below the age of 20, and about 250 of these cases arise in people below the age of 12. The youngest patient with Melanoma in my own Memphis Dermatology practice, as a Cordova Dermatologist, was only 10 years old!

Melanoma can occur even in darkly pigmented individuals especially on their hands and feet and their lips — Bob Marley was an Afro-Caribbean musician who died of Melanoma Skin Cancer when in his thirties

Melanoma is most common in fair-skinned White or Caucasian individuals, but also occurs in Native Americans, Asians, Latinos, and African-Americans. In fact, it is often diagnosed later in these groups, making treatment more involved, with higher fatality rates. In fact, the Afro-Caribbean reggae musician Bob Marley died in his late 30s of Melanoma which developed on one of his toes, a Skin Cancer which if caught early could have likely been effectively removed by an outpatient surgery.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma can sometimes resemble Melanoma so a Dermatologic Surgeon will often take a biopsy test to distinguish theses types of Skin Cancer — Squamous Cell Carcinoma on a person's shoulder

The warning signs of Melanoma that Dermatologists watch for – as originally described by Dr. Daryl Rigel and Dr. Al Kopf of New York University’s Department of Dermatology – are known as the A, B, C, D, E warning signs: or the ABCDE Warning Signs of Skin Cancer:

A stands for Asymmetry: one half of the mole does not match the other half.

B stands for an irregular Border: perhaps jagged like the coast of Maine, rather than smooth, like the coast of Florida.

C stands for Color change: perhaps a mole that’s particularly dark; or with different shades of brown, black, or gray; or with Color changes taking place.

D stands for a Diameter – or distance across – a mole that’s enlarging – particularly if that distance gets larger than the head of a number 2 pencil’s eraser.

E stands for Evolving or changing features.

So what’s the story on atypical moles, sometimes also called dysplastic nevi or dysplastic moles?

Malignant Melanoma showing Asymmetry and a dark Color — Melanoma Skin Cancer on a person's shoulder exhibiting different Colors and an irregular Border

In the 1970s, a Dermatologist from the University of Pennsylvania – Dr. Wally Clark – first identified certain families within which people tended to have a number of dark moles and also people had a tendency to develop melanoma. Dr. Clark described the features of a “dyplastic mole” or “dysplastic nevus,” these being moles that were dark in color, often with a raised center and a flat periphery.

Skin Cancer Screening involves getting a patient undressed to check his or her moles — Dermatologist doing a Skin Cancer Screening on a person's back

Since the 1970s, these dark moles have been renamed “Atypical Moles,” and it’s been appreciated by Dermatologists that such moles are not rare, but actually can affect up to 3-4% of us. Because there is an increased risk of Melanoma in families of people with Atypical Moles, there are a number of research studies underway currently to help to identify the exact increased risk of Skin Cancer developing within an isolated Atypical Mole, because we know that people with Atypical Moles can develop Melanoma both from their normal skin, and from these dark Moles. Until more data becomes available, many Dermatologists – including myself –advise that Atypical Moles be completely removed – unless patients have so many of them that it’s more feasible to closely monitor or to photograph these moles to help to watch them for changes – or if removal of a particular mole would be at risk of causing undue scarring.

So a Dyplastic Mole or Atypical Mole can sometimes be suspected by a Dermatologist based upon inspecting the skin and finding a mole that’s unduly dark, or with a raised center.

Parent doing a Mole Check or Skin Cancer Screening on a child's back — Summer's a great time to do your own Skin Cancer Screening because we're more visible in Summer

For photos of melanoma and normal moles and atypical moles look like, go to the Skin Cancer Foundation website, Skincancer.org.

Scarlet Akins was studying to become a teacher when she developed a Malignant Melanoma while in her twenties — Scarlet Akins developed Melanoma while pregnant

My Memphis Dermatology practice has sponsored a movie on Youtube about the Melanoma crisis, about the story of Scarlet Akins, a 26 year old woman who was studying to become a teacher at Ole Miss, but who developed a Melanoma on her knee while pregnant, a Skin Cancer that metastasized or spread within her body.

The good news about the type of Skin Cancer that we call Melanoma is that early detection definitely saves lives: if caught early, Melanoma is often curable with an outpatient removal or “excision,” by a Dermatologic Surgeon, under a shot of local anesthetic.

Memphis Dermatologic Surgeon Dr. George Woodbury in his Memphis Dermatology office — Memphis Dermatologist Dr. George Woodbury in his Cordova Office

So the moral of the story is: “See Spot. See Spot Change. See a Dermatologist.” My own Memphis Dermatology practice for over 30 years has been with Rheumatology and Dermatology (www.Rheumderm.com: 8143 Walnut Grove Road, Cordova TN 38018: 1-901-753-0168. Or to find a “Best Dermatologist Near Me” or “Best Dermatologists Near Me” you could go to the American Society of Dermatology website, AAD.org, then plug your zip code into the “Find a Dermatologist” tab.