What Is Dermoscopy and When Is It Used to Check a Lesion?

A mole on the back being examined with a dermatoscope

Key takeaways A dermatoscope is a handheld magnifying, illuminating device that lets a clinician see structures beneath the visible surface of a mole, invisible to the naked eye Dermoscopy meaningfully improves diagnostic accuracy compared with a visual check alone, and reduces the number of unnecessary biopsies It is a triage and assessment tool, not a […]

Bowen’s Disease (SCC in Situ): What It Is and How It’s Treated

Key takeaways Bowen’s disease is squamous cell carcinoma in situ, meaning the abnormal cells are confined to the outermost layer of skin and have not invaded deeper tissue It usually appears as a slow-growing, persistent, scaly or crusted red patch, classically on the lower legs Left untreated, a minority of cases progress to invasive squamous […]

Actinic Keratosis vs Skin Cancer: How to Tell the Difference

A rough, scaly patch on sun-exposed skin is one of the most common reasons patients book a skin check, and one of the hardest things for a non-specialist to judge from a mirror. Most of these patches turn out to be actinic keratosis, a common and usually harmless sign of sun damage. A minority are […]

What Age Are Patients Typically Diagnosed With Skin Cancer? Risk Factors by Decade

Skin lesion inspected with a dermatoscope during a skin cancer check

Most skin cancer is diagnosed later in life, and the honest reason isn’t really about getting older. It’s about sun exposure that happened decades earlier finally catching up. Cancer Research UK’s incidence statistics show that nearly half of all non-melanoma skin cancers in the UK are diagnosed in people aged 75 and over, and the […]