Is mole mapping worth it?

As its name sug­gests, mole map­ping means that every mole on your body is ​‘mapped out’ using total body pho­tog­ra­phy and spe­cial­ly devel­oped map­ping technology.

This pro­vides a base­line record of the size, shape and posi­tion of your moles, so that at future appoint­ments, a der­ma­tol­o­gist can assess any sub­tle changes that may indi­cate the ear­ly signs of melanoma.

To put it sim­ply, a skin check is a ​‘point in time’ check of your skin and moles. A doc­tor or nurse will check your skin all over for any signs of melanoma or oth­er skin can­cers. This usu­al­ly takes any­where between five and 15 min­utes, depend­ing on which skin can­cer detec­tion ser­vice you use.

While a skin check can be effec­tive at detect­ing any obvi­ous signs of skin can­cer on your skin at that point in time, it doesn’t include ongo­ing mon­i­tor­ing of your skin and moles. That’s why it’s more suit­able if you have a low skin can­cer risk (check your risk here) – or have one or more moles you’re wor­ried about.

On the oth­er hand, full body mole map­ping is much more com­pre­hen­sive. It includes dig­i­tal der­moscopy (using a high-tech device that looks deep inside a mole’s struc­ture to detect any signs of skin can­cer), plus full body pho­tog­ra­phy which cre­ates a base­line record of your entire skin and moles, as well as close-up images of any moles or spots of concern.

This base­line record is used at sub­se­quent appoint­ments to mon­i­tor any changes in your skin or moles — changes that may indi­cates the ear­ly signs of melanoma.

Full body mole map­ping takes longer than a skin check – often up to 45 min­utes – depend­ing on the num­ber of moles and whether any fea­tures of skin can­cer are detected.

One of the ear­li­est signs of melanoma is a chang­ing mole or spot. And, like all forms of can­cer, the ear­li­er melanoma is detect­ed, the bet­ter the chances of treat­ing it – and beat­ing it.⁶

So it stands to rea­son that one of the best ways to detect skin can­cer is by track­ing ear­ly changes in the skin and moles. That’s what full body mole map­ping is designed to do: mon­i­tor your skin over time to spot any changes early.

Mole map­ping costs more than a sim­ple skin check because it includes:

1. A thor­ough, head-to-toe skin check for the ear­ly signs of skin cancer.
2. Dig­i­tal der­moscopy – to the untrained eye, melanoma can look much like any oth­er spot. A der­mo­scope is a sophis­ti­cat­ed device that looks below the sur­face of a mole to detect any ear­ly signs of skin can­cer ear­li­er than visu­al checks.
3. Full body pho­tog­ra­phy – these total body images pro­vide a base­line record of the size, shape and posi­tion of every mole, so that even the small­est changes can be picked up at fol­low-up appointments.
4. In the case of a Full Body MoleMap, it also includes free spot checks for 12 months, so you can come back and see us if you notice any changes in your skin or moles.

Full body mole map­ping is suit­able for every­one, but is rec­om­mend­ed for any­one who has a mod­er­ate to high risk of melanoma. This includes any­one who has fair skin and/​or a lot of moles (50 moles or more), has a per­son­al or fam­i­ly his­to­ry of melanoma, is over 50 years old, or who has spent a lot of time in the sun.

If that sounds like you or some­one you know, we rec­om­mend book­ing a Full Body MoleMap every year, so that any ear­ly signs of skin can­cer can be detect­ed ear­ly – when they’re most treatable.

Do you know your skin can­cer risk? Take our quick risk check – or learn about the 7 risk fac­tors of melanoma.

At MoleMap, our team of lead­ing Der­ma­tol­o­gists and Melanog­ra­phers have been detect­ing and diag­nos­ing melanoma for over two decades. It’s all we do, and we do it thoroughly.

In fact, MoleMap’s founders were the first to pio­neer spe­cialised mole map­ping tech­nol­o­gy over 20 years ago. Real­is­ing that many melanomas were being missed in rou­tine skin checks, they devel­oped the Full Body MoleMap, a proven sur­veil­lance sys­tem that har­ness­es the lat­est dig­i­tal der­mo­scop­ic and pho­to­graph­ic tech­nol­o­gy.

MoleMap was also the first to cre­ate spe­cial­ist Melanog­ra­phers, skin can­cer nurs­es with best-in-class train­ing, and to ensure images of any moles of con­cern are secure­ly sent to an expert Der­ma­tol­o­gist for dou­ble-check­ing and diagnosis.

Basi­cal­ly that means that, not one, but two sets of expert eyes check every mole of con­cern: a trained Melanog­ra­ph­er and one of MoleMap’s lead­ing Der­ma­tol­o­gists.

What’s more, because full body mole map­ping can more accu­rate­ly iden­ti­fy melanoma than a one-off skin check, there is less need to sur­gi­cal­ly remove benign (harm­less) moles⁷ - which means less unnec­es­sary scar­ring and few­er unnec­ces­sary health scares for patients.

Many com­peti­tors now use the term ​‘mole map­ping’: how­ev­er, MoleMap was the orig­i­nal – and still leads the way with state-of-the-art skin can­cer detec­tion soft­ware and technology.

It’s a good idea to ask your doc­tor to check your skin and moles in between your reg­u­lar mole-map­ping appoint­ments – and to self-check your skin and moles every 2 – 3 months as well.

How­ev­er, bear in mind that GPs are busy and tend to give your skin a quick once-over with­in the con­fines of a 15-minute appoint­ment, so it may not be as thor­ough as a skin check with a spe­cial­ist skin can­cer detec­tion service.

And of course, a GP skin check doesn’t include full body mole map­ping, so you won’t have a base­line record of your skin and moles to check against at future appoint­ments – which as this arti­cle shows, can make a life-chang­ing difference.