Research has suggested that having 11 or more moles on your arm could indicate that you are at a higher risk for skin cancer than others.
According to a report from The Guardian, experts from King's College in London said they have found a way to quickly assess if someone may be at a higher risk for developing skin cancer, or melanoma, simply by counting the moles in the arm, a body area representative of the whole body.
The study, published in the British Journal of Dermatology, examined data from more than 3,500 female twins. Nurses from St. Thomas' hospital did a mole count on 17 different areas of each person's body, also taking into account the respective skin type, hair and eye color, and freckles. The study was repeated on 400 men and women for accuracy.
The researchers found that the count of moles in the right arm, specifically the area above the right elbow, was the most predictive of the total mole count on the whole body. Those with seven moles on the right arm had nine times the risk of having 50 in the whole body, and those who had 11 or more were likely to have 100 or more.
“We demonstrated that arm mole count of more than 11,” the researchers explained, “is associated with a significant risk of having more than 100 moles, that is in itself a strong predictor of risk for melanoma.”
Additionally, the legs and men's backs were also indicative of the increased risk for melanoma.
“The findings could have a significant impact for primary care, allowing GPs to more accurately estimate the total number of moles in a patient extremely quickly via an easily accessible body part,” lead author Simone Ribero, of the department of twin research and genetic epidemiology at King’s, said. “This would mean that more patients at risk of melanoma can be identified and monitored.”
"But less than half of melanomas develop from existing moles. So it's important to know what's normal for your skin and to tell your doctor about any change in the size, shape, colour or feel of a mole or a normal patch of skin,” said Claire Knight, health information manager at Cancer Research UK.
“And don't just look at your arms – melanoma can develop anywhere on the body, and is most common on the trunk in men and the legs in women."
The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust. A similar study is also published in the International Journal of Cancer.
