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American Morning
How Doctors Detect Melanoma
Aired August 09, 2001 - 11:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Melanoma will strike over 51,000 Americans this year. Like Maureen Reagan's doctor just said, early detection is the key. So we decided to do something a little different: show you how these checks work.
We have Dr. Carl Washington, a dermatologist at Emory University and -- look what we found here at CNN, Tom Lobs (ph). He is -- I don't I think I need this Tom Lobs is -- you're on our affiliate desk, right Tom?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
KAGAN: OK, Tom is going to be our victim. We got him to take his shirt off.
Can I tell you, doctor, I love my job.
OK, Tom, you have a seat over here, and doctor you walk over here and show us how -- if Tom were to come in your office and go for a regular check, how it works and what you look for.
DR. CARL WASHINGTON, EMORY UNIVERSITY: First thing we look for is just the number of moles, the pattern and distribution of a person's moles. We look specifically for whether or not the moles are small or whether or not they're larger. We look for benign moles to be fairly small and symmetrical with very sharp borders and even pigmentation.
KAGAN: Can we get one of the cameras in here so that we can see, maybe, a little bit closer what you would zero in on?
OK.
WASHINGTON: Additionally what we look for is just the distribution of the pigment. We expect benign moles to have a fairly even pigmentation, whereas moles that are abnormal or perhaps melanoma may have an uneven pigmentation or a the variety of colors such as red, blue, black and brown within the same lesion.
KAGAN: Do you see anything on Tom that would make you be a little bit concerned?
WASHINGTON: As I look at him, mainly I see freckles, which are the small, light brown areas that characteristically occur across the upper back of chest. He does have a few small moles here on his arm which are, fortunately very symmetrical, very evenly pigmented, with sharp, crisp borders. And that's what we look for for benign moles.
So as I glance now, I don't see anything that looks like it might be a problem.
KAGAN: Any specific area that you really focus on? I know with Maureen Reagan the mole that showed up first on her was on the back of her thigh.
WASHINGTON: Well, we expect sometimes to find melanoma more often on the trunk in men and on the legs in women. But it can occur anywhere in either sex.
So we pay particular attention to really, especially the exposed areas. But when we do full-skin examinations, we look literally at every square inch of the body.
KAGAN: You do; and that would require more than we're going to do here on CNN. We're seeing quite enough of Tom.
Tom, can you turn around, though, for us and show us like on the back what you would look for?
WASHINGTON: He has a variety of freckles, again, light brown. Kind of irregular borders. But the moles such as this one are very small, evenly pigmented. And he has several other, perhaps smaller moles here, but they all have a very benign, really not worrisome appearance at all.
KAGAN: What about these white spots on Tom's back? What is that?
WASHINGTON: Well, this may be -- there;s kind of a long, fancy name for that -- but sometimes a person can get these little light spots when they've been exposed to the sun over the years. They're relative harmless and have no significance whatsoever.
KAGAN: I also understand with Maureen Reagan that -- with melanoma it can be that you have a mole for a long time. It's not like a new mole pops up -- yes, Tom you have can have a seat -- it's not that a new mole pops up, it could be a longtime existing mole and it changes color or changes shape.
WASHINGTON: Well that's what we look for. That's the key. We talk about the ABCDs, which probably everyone's heard of. But another important feature is "E," which I call evolution. I s it changing? Because you're right: You can have a mole that looks a little bit worrisome, but if it's been there for 20 years unchanged, it's probably OK.
On the other hand, something that looks fairly innocent, if the person told me, well, it wasn't there last month, then I may take a different approach to that.
KAGAN: And real quickly, when somebody like Tom might come in your office, you also give him the lecture on why you should be wearing sunscreen, because it looks like Tom's been getting a little bit of sun.
WASHINGTON: We always talk about that. And it's important for people to realize that that's really about the only variable that you can control that's important with -- for the development of melanoma.
KAGAN: Wear the sunscreen.
WASHINGTON: That's right.
KAGAN: Very goof. Dr. Carl Washington, thank you so much.
Tom, the ladies in the newsroom are requesting that you keep your shirt off for the rest of the day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if I can do that.
KAGAN: We'll start a fund. Thank you so much. Tom Lobs works on our affiliate desk, so thank you for being our victim today, our patient, we appreciate it. And doctor, thank you.
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