When those Blemishes on Your Skin can be Serious - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

Just because summer is winding down that does not mean we can relax about sun safety. The warning signs of skin cancer should be on our minds all year long. It is as simple as A-B-C-D.

• A is for asymmetry, when half a mole or spot is unlike the other half
• B is for border. You don't want it to be irregular or scalloped
• C is for color. It should not be varied. See your doctor if a spot includes different shades of tan, brown, black or sometimes white, red, or even blue.
• D means diameter. A mole is suspicious if it is larger than a pencil eraser

Bottom line, if you notice something odd, check it out. "I didn't think it was anything significant. I just noticed that it was just, had been there a while, looked like a scar, but I'd never hurt myself over there and every once in a while it would get kind of angry looking, scaly, itchy, red," says Kathy Hoorman, a patient.

When Kathy had the spot checked, she found out it was skin cancer. These slides revealed the cancer had spread to an area larger than the red patch of skin on Kathy's face. Her dermatologist kept removing a thin layer of tissue and examining it under the microscope until she could find no more sign of the cancer.

"Don't fret if you have a skin cancer. Especially the ones that are non-melanoma. But even melanoma skin cancers. If you catch them early, they're curable," says Dr. Roberta Sengelmann, a Dermatologist.

Thanks to Kathy for sharing her story. Hopefully, now others will pay more attention to those spots, or scars or blemishes that just don't seem right.