This is Ask Okanagan with Phil Johnson, a quick take with trusted local professionals. This is Ask Okanagan, brought to you by the Dr. Ben Wiese Private Skincare Clinic, private pay skincare screening services in Kelowna.

Dr. Wiese, big question, a whole lot of people, they find themselves looking at moles that are on their body. Does a mole morph into cancer?

That’s an excellent question. And that was something that we’ve been grappling with quite a few years. So previously, years ago, the theory was yes, that if a mole gets injured or exposed to UV light, that mole is gonna change into a melanoma. Luckily, we know now that that is incorrect. I always tell my patients a mole or a nevus is always a mole. But sometimes what we think is a mole was actually not a mole. It was all along a melanoma because they can look very, very, very similar.

To make it even more complex, moley people, so people with a lot of moles, they’re at highest risk for developing melanoma. But it’s not the mole itself that changes into melanoma. And that’s why I always tell patients that it is important to try to monitor and see what is new. And what is changing on your skin. Unfortunately, moles also do change a little bit. So the fact that we tell people anything that’s new and changing, you know, moles can do that as well. But it’s not the mole that we’re worried about. It is more the moley people that we’re concerned about.

And then of course, to make sure that it’s that one spot that looks maybe like a mole or a freckle, or sometimes I call it the Sharpie sign. So this is where somebody comes to you and is like, hey, you’ve got a Sharpie mark on your skin, a little dot. Well, that’s probably or possibly actually the start of a melanoma because in how it presents.

Are people predisposed to cancer? Yes. So this is where genetics plays a big role. If you have a lot of moles, if you look at your forearm and you see about 10 or 20 moles, you’ve got a lot of moles. And that immediately means that you’re at risk. Even more so if you’re fair-skinned, blue eyes, red hair, and you’re moley, very, very high risk of developing melanoma. Because typically if you have red hair, blue eyes, blonde hair, fair skin, you will be freckly, but you won’t have a lot of moles. But when you have a lot of moles, definitely that increases your risk. And then also know your family history, because again, if there’s mom or dad or uncle, aunt, you know, who has had melanoma, your risk is definitely increased in developing skin cancer.

So I’ve met you and I get all this information that comes to me from you. But if I see something on me, I mean, it would be my nature now to go to the Dr. Ben’s private skincare clinic. But what about those people who decide they want to trust Dr. Google?

Google can be very dangerous because of course it can really, you know, you can easily go down that rabbit hole of what is abnormal and what’s not abnormal. And I always say, make sure that if you have any concerning lesion, you definitely don’t need to necessarily see me, but make sure that you see your healthcare provider who can guide you in making sure that we’re not missing a skin cancer that we could have found earlier.

Dr. Ben Wiese, where can people find you?

The easiest would be my website, drbenwiese.com.