What Colors Can Melanoma Skin Cancer Be?

It helps to know what the most common colors are for the deadliest skin cancer, melanoma.

Are there particular colors that melanoma skin cancer usually presents itself with?

“Melanomas are usually multiple shades of red, brown or black,” says Glenn Kolansky, MD, with Advanced Dermatology Surgery & Laser Center of NJ.

“However, they can be one color.”

A normal mole, of course, is usually some shade of brown or tan. In fact, a benign mole can even be black or what appears to be black.

About one-third of melanoma skin cancer arises out of a pre-existing mole.

This is why it’s so critical to become very familiar with every mole on your body. This means you must locate all your moles.

You may have some behind your ear or just under your hairline, even between your toes.

Do don’t just look for moles in easy-to-look-for locations. Examine every area of skin possible, and even have someone check your scalp.

Use mirrors to check behind your ears and even inside the ears. Don’t forget the bottom of the feet and the eyelids.

What other colors can melanoma skin cancer be?

This killer of nearly 10,000 Americans every year can be brown, tan, grey, white, beige, beige-yellow, shades of pink, flesh colored, blue and violet. See the images below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Often a lesion can only be evaluated by doing a biopsy and looking under the microscope for a diagnosis,” says Dr. Kolansky. “This should be performed by a dermatopathologist.”

This cancer doesn’t necessarily present with changing color; it can also grow in size, change in texture, bleed, crust, become elevated and even itch.

Dr. Kolansky has received the Physician of Hope Award presented by the American Cancer Society and has lectured at local and national meetings.

Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.