More than 11 moles on one arm mean a higher risk of melanoma

Oct 19, 2015 17:03 GMT  ·  By

In a new report, researchers at King's College London propose a link between how many moles an individual carries on just one of their arms and their risk of developing skin cancer. 

More precisely, the scientists say that people who have more than 11 moles on their right arm are at a higher risk of being diagnosed with melanoma, which is a particularly aggressive form of skin cancer.

People who carry between 7 and 10 moles on their right arm are not risk-free either and should probably go see a specialist, just to be on the safe side, the King's College London team add.

How arm moles correlate with increased cancer risk

In a report detailing their work, the research team explain that, when it comes to assessing melanoma risk, it's not really the number of moles on just one arm that matters. Rather, it's the number of moles on the entire body.

However, the fact of the matter is that, according to their investigations, people who carry plenty of moles on their right arm likely have many more on their whole body.

Thus, the specialists say that people who have more than 7 moles on their right arm probably have over 50 on their whole body. In turn, individuals with more than 11 moles on their right arm possibly have over 100 in total.

Although just 20 to 40% of melanoma cases are linked to preexisting moles, evidence shows that each additional mole on the body ups cancer risk by 2 to 4%.

The importance of this investigation and its findings

When assessing a patient's risk of developing melanoma, specialists usually count all the moles on their body. Needless to say, this practice is nothing if not time consuming.

In light of their findings, the King's College London researchers recommend that, rather than count all the moles anywhere in sight, medical experts instead focus on the ones on just the right arm.

If they find more than 7, then perhaps further tests are needed. Otherwise, they can put patients at ease without having to take the time to inspect their entire body from head to toes.

“The findings could have a significant impact for primary care, allowing general practitioners to more accurately estimate the total number of moles in a patient extremely quickly via an easily accessible body part,” said study leader Simone Ribero in a statement.

“This would mean that more patients at risk of melanoma can be identified and monitored,” the researcher went on to explain.