From: Patient-identified early clinical warning signs of nodular melanoma: a qualitative study
Signs/ symptoms | Nodular melanoma | Superficial spreading melanoma | Nodular melanoma |
---|---|---|---|
≤ 2 mm | ≤ 2 mm | > 2 mm | |
Asymmetry | |||
Round | Round or roundish, circle or circular | Circular, like a big circle | Circular, like a big circle |
Oblong | Not perfectly round, oblong | Not perfectly round, jetted off | |
Like a small kidney bean | Not perfectly round, smaller in one direction | ||
Square | Square | Rectangular | |
Border | |||
Slightly irregular | A little bit (or slightly) irregular | Half-moon edge on the side of the border | A little irregular |
Definite border, visible where it started and stopped | |||
Jagged | Jagged | Jagged border on one side | |
Jagged, uneven, undefined, melted into skin | |||
Irregular coloration | Skin was a little bit pink, right on the border | ||
[Pinkish with] a tan border | |||
Color | |||
White | Little white dot | Interior looked white or grey-white | |
Brownish white | |||
Darker white | |||
Beige | Very light beige w/ black spot in the middle | Skin color shade | |
Blue | Bluish dark | ||
Bluish, multi-colored | |||
Black | Black freckle, like a black head | ||
Black dotted marks leaving a trail of brown | |||
Pink | Pinkish, looking like a pimple | Pinkish | Pink |
Pinkish with a tan border | |||
Pinkish, pearlescent- like a reflection of a pearl | |||
Pink bumpy/bubbly area with a black freckle on top | |||
Dark pink | |||
Red | Red | Red | |
Red, pinkish lesion | Reddish | Reddish, almost bright red | |
Tiny, little red spot | |||
Brown | Light and dark brown, with darker spots inside | ||
Brown | Brown | Brown | |
Brownish or maroonish | Brownish like a dark freckle | A little brownish | |
Brownish dark | Dark brown | ||
Reddish brown | Dark, reddish brown | Brown and lighter /reddish | Brown with some red |
Reddish brown | Brown with some purple | ||
Dark | Really dark with an even darker spot inside | Dark, almost black | Dark |
Diameter | |||
Tiny dot | Like a dot made with a pen | Tiny, like lead on a pencil, the size of a dot | |
Tiny, tiny little spots | |||
Tiny, tiny, tiny, like the head of a pin | |||
Like if you took a fine-tipped pen and you just put three dots on a piece of paper | |||
< Pencil eraser | Fairly small (1/8 of an inch) | Very small (2 mm to 3–4 mm) | Like a small pinhead used for sewing (1.5 mm) |
Much smaller than a pencil eraser | Much smaller than a pencil eraser | Like the tip of a pen (2 mm) | |
Like a half of a pencil eraser | Smaller than the size of a pencil eraser | ||
About 2/3 of a pencil eraser | Half the size of a pencil eraser, very small | ||
~ Pencil eraser | The size of a pencil eraser | Almost the size of a pencil eraser | The size of a pencil eraser |
The size of a pencil eraser or a little smaller | Like a big pimple (1/4 of an inch | ||
About 1/4 in. round | |||
> Pencil eraser | A little bigger than a pencil eraser | Like two pencil-head erasers side-by-side | A little bigger than the size of a pencil eraser |
The size of my little finger’s fingernail | The size of the little fingernail on your hand | As big as a very small blueberry, maybe even smaller | |
Really tiny, smaller than 1 cm | 1 cm diameter | ||
Smaller than the size of a dime | |||
A little bit smaller than my thumbnail | The size of my thumbnail | ||
About the size of a dime, maybe bigger | About the size of a dime | ||
The size of a penny | |||
The size of a quarter, large | |||
A little bigger than a quarter | |||
Approximately 2 cm | |||
Elevation | |||
Slight | Teeny little bump | A little raised (1/8 of an inch; 1 mm) | A little raised |
Only slight [elevation] | Elevated a little, you could feel it, definitely | A little raised bump | |
Not huge, just slight [elevation] | Could feel it- if you ran your finger over it | A little bit raised but not grossly | |
Definitely more flat, but [also] raised a bit | Not very much elevated, a little bumpy | Elevated a little bit | |
Flat, less than 1 mm, a really tiny thing | Like a little raised scar, bubbly a little bit | A little bit elevated, some parts higher than others | |
A little bit elevated but small, small | Rounded at the top, a tiny bubble like a tiny curve -also went down below the surface | Could feel it, wasn’t flush with the skin (1/4 in. high) | |
Elevated above the skin like bumps on skin | The big the balloon was maybe 1/8 of an inch | ||
Elevated, like a pimple | Raised at least a ¼ of an inch, maybe more | ||
Textured | A little bit raised, puffy, just like a little bump | A little bit bumpy with a rough texture | Growing out of the skin, I could feel the crustiness |
A little bit raised, puffed up | A little raised, a little crusty | Felt like a bee sting, no pain (the texture of it) | |
Prominent | Raised up and prominent | Raised, pronounced, thick (5 mm) | |
Raised, like a swelling from a bee sting | |||
Evolution [chronology] | |||
Asymmetry change | From round to oblong [2 weeks] | Changed shape [In a matter of weeks] | Looked different from last time I checked [2 months] |
Not the same shape as in the past [6 months] | |||
Border change | Became more irregular [6–12 months] | Got irregular [In a matter of weeks] | |
Some parts of the border became red [Over the last few years] | |||
Color change | From light beige to beige with a black spot [Over time] | Became darker at the center | |
From brownish to darker with brown tinges [2 weeks] | From light brown to really dark [Really fast] | ||
Got darker, from light to dark brown [6 months] | |||
Became a little bit dark | Got a little darker [Slowly, over the years] | ||
From brown to brown with purple in it [2–4 months] | |||
From brown to black, in a dripping pattern [2 weeks] | From brown to black [4–5 months] | ||
From bluish dark to almost black [3 months] | Blackened | ||
Diameter change | Didn’t get too much bigger [2 weeks] | Grew in size [Overnight] | Got bigger, from 0.5 to 2 cm [4 weeks] |
Grew quickly, all of a sudden [4–6 weeks] | Got a little bigger [Over the last few years] | Got bigger [3–4 months] | |
Got a little bit bigger, larger [3 months] | Grew a little bit bigger [Slowly, over the years] | Came back/grew after biopsy [4–5 months] | |
Got bigger, from 1 to 2 mm [6–12 months] | Grew in size, from nothing to pencil eraser size [In a matter of weeks] | Got slightly bigger [Almost 1 year] | |
Got (a little bit) bigger [Over time] | Kept getting bigger and bigger | ||
Growing in size [12 months] | |||
Elevation change | Got raised [2 weeks] | Got higher [4 weeks] | |
More raised [2 months] | |||
Got more density to it [Very quick] | Became thicker [3.5 weeks] | ||
Became more pronounced | Became more pronounced, protruding from the skin [Relatively quickly] | ||
Became puffy [6–12 months] | Became bumpier, not smooth [2–4 months] | ||
Puffed up [Over time] | |||
Physical signs and symptoms | |||
Itchy | A little bit itchy | ||
Really itchy | Itching a good deal | ||
Became itchy | Became itchy [6 months] | Became itchy [2 months] | |
Bleeding | Bleeding after shaving/ picking at it | Bleeding after shaving or squeezing [2–3 weeks] | |
Blood spots under the mole | Bleeding | ||
Weeping | Weeping pus | ||
Discharge | |||
Moist | |||
Multiple signs | A little bit itchy and bleeding [Once] | Itchy, scaling and flaky, cracking, bleeding | Itchy, sore/sensitive, and bleeding- from towel drying |
Bleeding a little, open sore, scabbed over | |||
A little bit itchy and a little bit scaly | Itchy and erupting [Periodically] | ||
Itchy, did not heal, looked like a keloid scar | |||
Became dry, scaly, peeling [All of the sudden] | |||
Sensitive and hurting/ sore, radiating pain [All of a sudden] | Itchy and painful | ||
Oozing- from towel drying, sensitive, breaking open | |||
Tactile sensations | Did not feel right, it was purely tactile | Could feel it- by touching | |
Hardened, became more solid [Over a few days] | Hardened a little bit | ||
Felt like a hard pimple- by touching | |||
Felt like cracking a peanut open- after squeezing |