LEGS ARE THE CRITICAL ZONE FOR MOLES FOR WOMEN – TIME FOR A CHECKUP?

The legs are one of the most important areas for women to monitor when it comes to moles, pigmentation and other skin changes.

This is an ideal time of year to do a comprehensive mole check on your legs and body. Scheduling an assessment before the summer months ensures that any necessary treatments – whether medical or cosmetic – can be done and healed, allowing you to bare your skin with confidence. Early detection of changes in size, shape, or colour is critical for effective management.

The Leg Connection: Why Women Are at Risk

While men are statistically more likely to develop melanoma on their backs or torsos, the legs are the most common site for melanoma in women.

• Cumulative sun exposure: This is primarily due to lifetime UV exposure from wearing skirts, dresses, and shorts throughout life.
• Easy to overlook: Moles on the calves and lower legs are often missed because they’re further from our direct line of sight.
• Hormonal factors: Some research suggests hormonal fluctuations can influence the development of pigmented spots in these areas.

How to Check Your Legs: The ABCDE + “Evolving” Guide

A self-check doesn’t replace a professional skin exam, but it can help you spot changes early. Use good lighting and a mirror (or your phone camera) and check the fronts and backs of thighs, knees, calves, shins, ankles, feet, soles, and between the toes.

• A — Asymmetry: One half doesn’t match the other.
• B — Border: Irregular, blurred, notched, or uneven edges.
• C — Colour: Multiple shades in one spot, such as brown, black, pink, red, white, or blue.
• D — Diameter: Larger than ~6mm (about the size of a pencil eraser) or growing.
• E — Evolving: Any change in size, shape, colour, texture — or symptoms like itching, bleeding, crusting, or oozing.

Tip: If you’re monitoring a particular mole, take a clear photo once a month in the same lighting and from the same distance to help track subtle changes.

When to book a skin check: If something is new, changing, bleeding, sore, itchy, looks very different from your other moles (“the ugly duckling”), or simply doesn’t feel right, get it assessed by a GP or dermatologist.

Understanding Your Moles

Moles (nevi) are clusters of pigmented cells called melanocytes. Identifying the type of mole is the first step in determining whether treatment or monitoring may be required.

Which Moles Should Be Checked by a Doctor?

Any mole that is new, changing, irregular, bleeding, crusting, painful, or noticeably different from the others on your body should be professionally assessed. Even if a lesion does not tick every ABCDE box, it is worth booking a skin check if it looks unusual or concerns you.

Pigmentation, Freckles, or Sun Damage?

It can be difficult to distinguish between harmless spots and skin changes that need closer attention.

• Freckles vs. Pigmentation: Freckles are small, flat, tanned spots that often darken in summer and fade in winter. General hyperpigmentation (like age spots or sunspots) appears as larger, more permanent patches that do not fade seasonally and are a direct result of cumulative UV damage.
• Red Patches That Won’t Clear: Persistent, scaly, or red patches that do not heal after four weeks can be a sign of non-melanoma skin cancer, such as Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) or Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC). These can appear as red and firm lumps or flat and scaly patches on sun-exposed areas.

Treatment Options

• Medical Removal: If a mole is suspicious, a surgical excision may be performed, where the mole and a small margin of skin are removed and stitched.
• Cosmetic Removal: For benign but unsightly moles, shave excision (shaving the bump flush with the skin) or laser removal (using light energy to break down pigment) are popular options for minimal scarring and fast recovery.
• Pigmentation Treatments: Sunspots and some red patches can often be treated with laser therapy, cryotherapy (freezing), or prescription retinoid creams.

A Final Reminder Before Summer

A quick leg check now can save stress later. Before bare-leg season begins, make time to assess the skin on your legs as carefully as you assess the skin on your face, shoulders, and arms. It’s a simple habit that can support both peace of mind and early action if anything has changed.