MONDAY, Jan. 19, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- Using photographs of their own skin as reference could allow people to better detect new or changed moles that may indicate skin cancer, says a study in the January issue of the Archives of Dermatology.
The study included 50 people with at least five moles that had changed shape or had irregular borders. Digital photographs of the patients' backs, chests and abdomens were taken during visits to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
The patients were given copies of these "baseline" photographs.
The researchers then changed the appearance of the patients' existing moles and created "new" moles using cosmetic eyeliner pencil in a color that most closely matched the color of the moles. The new and altered moles accounted for about 10 percent of each patient's total mole count.
Patients who used digital photographs along with skin self-examinations (SSE) correctly identified new or changed moles 72.4 percent of the time, compared to 60.2 percent for people who used SSE alone.
"Access to baseline photography improved the diagnostic accuracy of SSE on the back and chest or abdomen and improved detection of changing and new moles," the study authors write.
"Our results suggest that baseline digital photography in tandem with SSE may be effective in improving the diagnostic accuracy of patients performing SSE," they add.
More information
Here's where you can learn more about spotting skin cancer.
