Mole alert: five simple ways to spot potential skin cancer | Sali Hughes on beauty

There has never been a more gratifying column, for me, than the one that prompted a lovely man on Twitter to direct message me on three separate occasions to keep me updated of his treatment for a still curable form of skin cancer, found after he’d read something I wrote on mole checking.

So it certainly bears repeating, particularly at this time of year, when spending time in the sun. Becoming familiar with every inch of your skin is always best practice (especially for, but not confined to, those with skin that burns easily, are freckled, have a history of skin cancer or spend extended periods outdoors). But if you have new or existing moles, it’s crucial and sometimes life saving.

Moles that appear from nowhere, or those that have changed in appearance or feeling are frequently nothing, but also a sign that one must see a doctor immediately. To examine and monitor yours, it’s helpful to remember ABCDE.

A stands for asymmetry: if your moles are different shapes on each side, rather than a mirror image, this is worth noting. B is for border: is the outline of your mole typically clear and defined, or blurred, fuzzy or uneven? C is colour: is your mole one shade, or are there different shades within its boundaries? D – diameter – is where we should measure if a mole’s entirety is over 5mm. And perhaps most crucially if you’ve had perfectly harmless moles for long periods, is E – evolution: any change at all should be checked out.

Living in one’s own skin can make the monitoring of this last point tougher, and so I strongly recommend (as my new Twitter friend surely would) opening a dedicated folder on your smartphone, to contain dated photographs, taken at six-monthly intervals. If the location of surrounding skin isn’t immediately identifiable, it’s useful to scrawl “left thigh” or the equivalent above it in eyeliner pencil.

Anyone who’s attempted in recent times to obtain a routine GP’s appointment will know that checkups can be as hard to procure as a Gutenberg bible, so do make sure you alert the receptionist to your worrying findings.

If you can afford it, high-street clinics (such as sk:n, where I’m a paying client) offer relatively affordable mole-check appointments, where everything from scalp to foot sole is inspected by trained staff, who will refer clients as needed. These checks are usually uneventful, but nonetheless vital. Between checks, always, unfailingly, wear SPF50.