When dermatologists identify skin cancer in patients who are referred to them because of a suspicious-looking lesion, the cancer is frequently found elsewhere on the body, according to research published in the Archives of Dermatology. See your doctor if you have a skin lesion that has: • asymmetry that is, one half is different from the other half • irregular borders • variations in color from one side to another Researchers from the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and Yale University School of Medicine studied the medical records of 400 patients who were referred by a non-dermatologist to a dermatologist because of a suspicious-looking skin lesion. The investigators looked at whether skin cancer was eventually found on the patients and whether or not the cancer was identified in the lesion that originally prompted the referral. Overall, 149 cancerous lesions were found in 98 patients. Only 22% of the lesions that prompted the referral were found to be cancerous, and only 59% of the cancers that were identified were found in the lesions that prompted the referral. Over 100 lesions that had not been identified by the referring physician were identified and biopsied by the consulting dermatologist, resulting in the identification of more than 60 additional skin cancers. Twelve patients whose original lesions were found to be benign and did not require a biopsy ended up having skin cancer detected elsewhere on their bodies. Today's research suggests that non <b>...</b>