Dermatologist reveals incredibly subtle clue that your tiny pimple is actually cancer
A top dermatologist has flagged a little-known sign of cancer that patients often mistake for a hormonal spot.
If the 'pimple' scabs over and bleeds, it's likely skin cancer, according to Harvard-trained dermatologist Dr Daniel Sugai.
In an Instagram video that's so far attracted more than 134,000 views, Dr Sugai warned that the most common form of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma (BCC), 'does not have to be an obvious growth on the face'.
Instead, it can be a small, non-healing sore, bump or even a patch of flat, scaly skin.
In the video, he listed common symptoms of cancer he sees in his patients who have missed the warning sign.
He said: 'A complaint I hear patients say is that "I just washed my face and there's this one spot that keeps bleeding", and it does this bleed-scab cycle.
'So if you have a spot that's not fully healing or is very fragile with gentle trauma like washing your face, definitely see your dermatologist.'
This is likely because BCCs are typically fragile tumors and can develop blood vessels to help them grow, making them more prone to bleeding.
Dr Sugai also advised if that pesky pimple doesn't go away after four weeks it could be cancer, and you should consult your doctor.
While the average spot will go away in about a week, a skin cancer bump will not heal on its own.
For those with darker skin, a bump will grow and become darker than the surrounding skin, the top dermatologist said.
'For my patients who have skin of colour, I will find a pigmented basal cell most commonly and it's usually hyperpigmented with some red mixed in. And with time it will start to bleed easily.'
Upon closer inspection with a dermatoscope, even the tiniest of spots can be skin cancer.
Pointing to an example, he said: 'This tiny spot on the lip was skin cancer and most people would have ignored it because it's flat and wasn't bleeding.
'I looked up close and I was able to see these concerning features. There's tree-like blood vessles and I can see some small scarring.
'I took a biopsy of it and it turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma. I diagnose these everyday and I actually treat them surgically everyday.'
Dr Sugai's biggest for avoiding the deadly cancer is wearing sunscreen.
He said: 'People don't realise that the first 20 years of life is so important in terms of sun protection, because getting those sunburns early on in life will definitely affect how healthy your DNA is later on in life.
'If you're starting late in the sunscreen game, it's never too late. Keep wearing your sunscreen because we don't want to overwhelm our skin with DNA mutations that are induced from the sun.'
It takes a scarily low number of sunburns—only five—to make you vulnerable to the condition that kills more than 2,000 people in the UK every year.
About 75,000 people are diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma (BCC) each year and the condition accounts for approximately 70 per cent of all skin cancers.
Unlike the deadliest type, melanoma, these cancers are slow growing and doctors can almost always cure them.
However, patients often have to undergo invasive operations to remove large chunks of their skin in order to destroy the cancer—which can be disfiguring.
The most harmful type of sunrays are UVB which hit the outer layer of the skin (the epidermis) and cause the most sunburn, as well as UVA rays which penetrate much deeper and contribute to ageing.
Both are ultraviolet, which means they cause skin cancer.
A worrying 90 per cent of skin cancer cases in the UK are a direct result of sunburn and using sunbeds, according to Cancer Research.
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