If you think that you may have melanoma, you will need to see your GP. Your GP will ask you questions about your symptoms and examine the area of skin troubling you. She or he may ask about your lifestyle and family history.

If your GP decides the condition is suspicious, she or he may then send you to see a specialist doctor at a nearby hospital. There are NHS cancer referral guidelines to help GPs decide who needs to see a specialist, and how quickly.

Suspected melanoma

If your GP thinks it is possible that you have melanoma, you will be referred within two weeks to a dermatologist (a doctor who specialises is skin problems) or a plastic surgeon with an interest in skin problems. You may be seen in a melanoma screening clinic, or a dermatology or plastic surgery clinic, depending on your local Cancer Unit’s arrangements.

At the clinic you are likely to have a full skin examination. Photographs may be taken of some areas of your skin for future reference.

The cancer guidelines for urgent referral for melanoma include a mole in any part of the body that has one or more of the following features:

• it is changing shape, particularly if the edge is getting irregular
  
   
• it is getting bigger
  
   
• it is changing colour – getting darker or becoming patchy or multi-shaded
  
   
• it is painful, itchy, bleeding, ulcerated or inflamed.