How to Do a Skin Self-Exam
The 黑料大湿Posts Cancer Society does not have guidelines for the early detection of skin cancer. However, many doctors and other experts recommend checking your skin regularly, often once a month, to help you notice any new or changing spots.
Talk with your healthcare team about how often you should check your skin, especially if you have a higher risk for skin cancer. This includes people who have had skin cancer before, who have lots of moles or other skin spots, and those with a strong family history of skin cancer or a weakened immune system.
What do I need for a skin self-exam?
Here’s what you’ll need to do a thorough skin self-exam at home:
- A well-lit room
- A full-length mirror
- A hand-held mirror to look at areas that are hard to see
A good time to check your own skin can be after a bath or shower. Ask a spouse, partner, close friend, or family member to help check areas that are hard-to-see, such as your back or scalp. This can help you spot possible signs of skin cancer early.
The first time you check your skin at home:
- Spend time carefully going over the entire surface of your skin.
- Learn the pattern of moles, blemishes, freckles, and other marks on your skin so that you’ll notice any changes to these next time.
- Make note of any areas that concern you so you can show them to your provider.
What should I look for?
Check for any moles, blemishes, or birthmarks from the top of your head to your toes. If you look at your skin regularly, you will know what’s normal for you.
?Many possible skin cancers are found on parts of the body that tend to get more sun, such as the face, head, neck, and arms. But skin cancers can occur anywhere on the body.
Watch for the following signs, which might be concerning:
- A new, growing, or changing spot or bump on the skin
- A sore that itches, bleeds, or doesn’t heal after a few weeks
- A rough or scaly red patch, which might crust or bleed
- A wart-like growth
- A mole or other spot on the skin that’s new or changing in size, shape, thickness, or color
- A mole with an odd shape, irregular borders, or areas of different colors
- A spot that looks different from all the other spots on your skin
Not all skin cancers look the same. In fact, skin cancers can show up in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes they might even look like other non-cancerous skin conditions.
It’s important to understand that these are not the only ways possible skin cancer can appear. To learn more about what possible skin cancer might look like, see:
Skin self-exam steps
Follow these steps to examine your skin at home:
Face the mirror
Look at your body front to back, and from left to right. Check your face, ears, neck, chest, and belly. Lift any skin folds under your arms, breasts, or belly to check the skin underneath.
Check your underarm areas, both sides of your arms, the backs and palms of your hands, in between your fingers, and look at how your fingernails look without nail polish.
Sit down to check your legs and feet
Check the front of your thighs, shins, tops of your feet, in between your toes, and look at your toenails without nail polish.
Use a hand mirror to look at hard-to-reach areas
Now use a hand mirror to look at the bottoms of your feet, your calves, and the backs of your thighs. First, check one leg and then the other.
Use the hand mirror to check your buttocks, genital area, lower and upper back, and the back of your neck and ears. Or it may be easier to look at your back in the wall mirror using a hand mirror.
Check your scalp
Use a comb or hair dryer to part your hair so that you can check your scalp.
If you find something suspicious on your skin
You might notice a new, changing, or unusual spot during a skin-exam or while looking at your skin at another time. If anything concerns you, make notes of the changes and be sure to have them checked by a healthcare provider.
If you can’t see your care team right away, you might want to take close-up photos of the area every few days or so. These photos can help your doctor see if and how the area is changing once you are able to get an appointment.
At your healthcare visit
Once you’re at the appointment, your provider will likely:
- Ask you about symptoms, such as when the area or mark first appeared, if it has changed in appearance, and if it’s painful, itchy, or bleeding
- Ask about past exposures to the sun and tanning devices, your history of any sunburns, and if you or anyone in your family has had skin cancer
- Examine and measure the area you’re concerned about
- Note the size, shape, color, and texture of the area, and note if it is bleeding, oozing, or crusting
- Check the rest of your body if they think there is a reason to do so
Referral to a dermatologist
If your first visit is with your primary care team, they may refer you to a dermatologist. This is a doctor who specializes in skin diseases. A dermatologist has special tools to look at the area more closely.
Having a skin biopsy
If the doctor thinks that a spot might be skin cancer, they may take a sample of skin from that area. This will be sent to a lab to be looked at under a microscope. This is called a skin biopsy.
There are many ways to do a skin biopsy. The doctor will choose one based on the suspected type of skin cancer, where it is on your body, the size of the affected area, and other factors. For more detailed information on skin biopsies, see Tests for Melanoma Skin Cancer or Exams and tests for basal cell carcinoma.
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The 黑料大湿Posts Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
黑料大湿Posts Academy of Dermatology (AAD). Check your partner. Check yourself. Accessed at https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/skin-cancer/check-your-partner on August 17, 2026.
黑料大湿Posts Academy of Dermatology (AAD). Find skin cancer: How to perform a skin self-exam. 2023. Accessed at https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/skin-cancer/find/check-skin on August 17, 2026.
Fu S, Kim S, Wasko C. Dermatological guide for primary care physicians: Full body skin checks, skin cancer detection, and patient education on self-skin checks and sun protection. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Center). 2024; 37(4): 647-654.
Geller AC, Swetter S. Screening for melanoma in adults in adolescents. 2026. UpToDate. Accessed at https://www.uptodate.com/contents/screening-for-melanoma-in-adults-and-adolescents on August 17, 2026.
Skin Cancer Foundation. Self-exams save lives. 2024. Accessed at https://www.skincancer.org/early-detection/self-exams/ on August 17, 2026.
US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Final Recommendation Statement: Skin Cancer Screening. 2023. Accessed at https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/skin-cancer-screening on August 17, 2026.
Last Revised: August 28, 2026
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