New skin cancer warning: not all suspect moles are dark

Be warned — you may have more potential skin cancers than you think.

Key points:

 * Cancer Council Australia announced changes to its melanoma diagnosis guidelines for doctors
 * Asked to add the EFG assessment — looking at elevation, firmness and growth
 * About 30 Australians are diagnosed with the skin cancer every day

Until now, public health messages about skin cancer haven't warned about paler, less obvious lesions.

"Typically, a lot of people assume, wrongly, that melanomas are associated with dark pigmented moles," said Chris McMillan, the CEO of Cancer Council Queensland.

But research has shown that risks missing a significant number of potential lethal melanomas.

"Realistically, we find that 20 per cent of melanomas are pale-coloured lesions," Mr McMillan said

Read more from the ABC...http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-11/melanoma-skin-cancer-warning-not-all-suspect-moles-are-dark/9038904?section=health