Finding skin cancer in darker skin tones
Americans with darker skin tones (including Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, people of Latin or Mediterranean descent, Alaskan Natives, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders) can get skin cancer
Checking your skin for signs of skin cancer can be lifesaving.
It's a common misbelief that only people with light skin develop skin cancer. If you have a darker skin tone, you can get skin cancer. When someone who has a darker skin tone develops skin cancer, the cancer is often advanced by the time it’s diagnosed. This can make treatment difficult.
You can find skin cancer early when it’s highly treatable. Even melanoma, the most serious skin cancer, is highly treatable when caught early.
To help you find skin cancer early, we’re sharing insight from board-certified dermatologists, the skin cancer experts, so you can:
Recognize warning signs of skin cancer in darker skin tones.
Examine your own skin for signs of skin cancer.
Know what to do if you find a suspicious spot or patch on your skin.
Before learning the warning signs, it’s helpful to know a bit about where skin cancer can develop.
Where skin cancer develops in darker skin tones
You may have heard that skin cancer develops on skin that gets a lot of sun. While this is common in people with lighter skin tones, it’s not always true of people who have darker skin tones.
If you have a darker skin tone, skin cancer may show up in areas that receive little, if any, sun. This includes your:
Palms
Soles
Fingers and toes
Nails
Mouth (inside or on a lip)
Buttock
Anus or genitals (on and around)
Keep in mind that you can also develop skin cancer on skin that’s often exposed to the sun, like your face and neck.
Warning signs of skin cancer in darker skin tones
You can find warning signs by checking your own skin. When looking for signs of skin cancer, you want to keep an eye out for spots or growths that have changed in any way over time.
For people who have darker skin tones, it’s especially important to look for these changes:
Bump, spot, or mole that’s growing, bleeding, itching, or changing in any way
Color change (on your skin, scalp, mouth, lips, or genital area), especially skin darkening
Sore that doesn’t heal — or heals and returns
Nail changes, including a dark line or streak in your nail, or a spot under or around the nail that does not heal
A scaly or rough patch that doesn’t go away
Pictures of skin cancer in darker skin tones
To give you an idea of what the warning signs can look like, the following pictures show how skin cancer can appear in darker skin tones. Keep in mind that skin cancer can vary in appearance. These photos are meant to give you a general idea of the signs to look for.
Bump, spot, or mole that’s growing, bleeding, itching, or changing in any way
A new bump, spot, or mole — or one that’s changing — could be skin cancer. This change can show up in many ways.
A round or oval spot that is darker than your natural skin tone
The growth on this man’s nose is a type of skin cancer called squamous cell carcinoma. It’s the most common type of skin cancer in Blacks and Asian Indians.
Firm, dome-shaped growth that's often brown or black
This patient has a type of skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma, which can grow deep without treatment.
Growing, shiny bump
In darker skin tones, this bump tends to be black, brown, or blue. The bump on this patient’s skin is basal cell carcinoma.
Bump that looks like a mole
The brown growth next to the man’s eye is basal cell carcinoma.
A growing bump that may break open and has more than one color
The growth on this man’s skin is melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. A growing bump with different colors is often a sign of melanoma.
Photo courtesy of the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
A growing bump that has more one than one color and bleeds
The growth on this patient’s leg is melanoma.
Color change on your skin
If you see a new or changing color on your skin, it could be a sign of skin cancer.
Dark spot on the sole or palm
The dark spot on this patient’s sole is melanoma. You can see some of the ABCDEs of melanoma, such as one half is unlike the other, uneven border, and more than one color.
Photo courtesy Calvin McCall, MD, FAAD
A growing dark spot on the bottom of your foot or palm with different colors
Many people never think about checking their feet for signs of skin cancer, so the cancer often spreads before it’s noticed. This man has advanced melanoma.
Photo courtesy of the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
A darker color on your lip, inside your mouth, or genital area
In darker skin tones, skin cancer sometimes looks like discolored skin. The darker area on this woman’s lip is melanoma.
A discolored area with an uneven border
This woman has basal cell carcinoma. When people with darker skin tones develop this type of skin cancer, it usually appears on the head or neck, but it can appear anywhere on the skin.
Sore that doesn’t heal — or heals and returns
Do you have a sore that doesn’t heal or heals and then comes back? This can be a warning sign of skin cancer in people who have darker skin tones.
Skin cancer can look like a non-healing sore
The spot on the side of this woman’s nose could be mistaken for a sore. When she saw a dermatologist, she found out it’s basal cell carcinoma.
Photo courtesy of the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
A growth that looks like a sore, which bleeds or scabs over
What looks like a sore on this woman’s scalp turned out to be squamous cell carcinoma.
A non-healing pimple
The red-pink spot on this man’s nose is skin cancer. In darker skin tones, this type of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma, can look like a sore or pimple that doesn’t go away.
Nail change
A change to your nail, such as a dark line or streak, might be a sign of melanoma. Other signs of skin cancer in (or around a nail) include darker skin next to your nail, nail lifting from a finger or toe, a nail that splits down the middle, or a bump under a nail.
A dark line within a fingernail or toenail
The line is usually brown or black and can be mistaken for a bruise. Unlike a bruise, skin cancer doesn’t grow out with the nail. This line is melanoma.
Wide band of color within a nail
The wide brown line on this patient’s nail is melanoma.
Darker skin around a nail
If you have deeply pigmented skin, skin cancer can develop in areas you may not think of, such as around a fingernail. Both squamous cell carcinoma, shown here, and melanoma can develop around the nail.
Picture courtesy of Carl V. Washington, MD, FAAD
Scaly, rough patch that doesn't go away
A rough, raised patch that’s often darker than your natural skin tone
Changes in skin color, texture, or both can be a sign of skin cancer in darker skin tones. This patient has squamous cell carcinoma, which can develop on skin that gets sun or in areas that have little or no sun exposure, such as the genitals.
Courtesy of Carl V. Washington, MD, FAAD
Scaly patch with more than one color
This patient has squamous cell carcinoma. In darker skin tones, this type of skin cancer can be the same color as your skin, pink, red, black, brown, or more than one of these colors.
How to find signs of skin cancer on your skin
Now that you know what skin cancer often looks like in darker skin tones, you’re ready to examine your own skin for these signs. To find signs of skin cancer, dermatologists recommend that you do a skin self-exam.
For a skin self-exam, you’ll need a:
Full-length mirror
Handheld mirror
Private space
The following video shows you how to perform a skin self-exam.
FIND SKIN CANCER: HOW TO PERFORM A SKIN SELF-EXAM
Regularly checking your skin can help catch skin cancer early, when it’s highly treatable. Follow these tips from board-certified dermatologists to check your skin for signs of skin cancer.
Some people find it helpful to see drawings that show you how to examine each area of your body. You’ll find these illustrations at Find skin cancer: How to perform a skin self-exam.
It’s important to check your nails and feet carefully, too. The following can help:
When checking your skin, be sure to pay close attention if you have any of the following — an existing growth, an area that was injured or had radiation treatments, or a scar. Skin cancer has a greater likelihood of developing in these areas.
See a suspicious spot, see a dermatologist
If you see a spot or other sign that could be skin cancer, immediately:
Make an appointment to see a board-certified dermatologist.
Explain when you make the appointment that you found a sign of skin cancer on your skin.
Dermatologists are skin cancer experts. Your dermatologist knows how to identify skin cancer in all skin tones. That’s important since skin cancer can appear differently in darker skin tones than in lighter skin tones.
If you need a dermatologist, you can find one at Find a Dermatologist.
Can people with darker skin tones reduce their risk of getting skin cancer?
Yes, dermatologists recommend that everyone protect their skin from the sun.
To protect your darker skin from the sun, dermatologists recommend that you:
Seek shade.
Wear sun-protective clothing like long sleeves, pants, or a long dress.
Apply a tinted sunscreen that offers broad-spectrum protection, SPF 30 or higher, and water resistance.
Do people who have brown or Black skin really need sunscreen?
Yes. Dermatologists recommend sunscreen for everyone.
If you have brown or Black skin, the sun can speed up how quickly your skin ages. The sun’s visible light can also cause hyperpigmentation (areas of skin turn darker than your natural skin tone) in people with darker skin tones.
Sun protection, which includes sunscreen, can reduce the likelihood of developing these conditions. Sun protection can also help fade dark spots.
To get the protection you need to prevent (and help clear) dark spots and patches, dermatologists recommend that you use tinted sunscreen with iron oxide. Iron oxide helps to protect your skin from the sun's visible light (a cause of dark spots). Along with iron oxide, your tinted sunscreen should also offer all the following:
SPF 30 or higher
Broad-spectrum protection
Water-resistance
Non-comedogenic (won’t clog pores) formula if you have oily skin
The ability to blend with your skin tone (avoids a white cast)
Your dermatologist knows skin cancer
Dermatologists are the skin experts. They are trained to recognize early signs of skin cancer that others might miss. They know that skin cancer is often found later in people who have darker skin tones, but it can be found earlier.
You can help find skin cancer early by following the three steps that dermatologists recommend:
Learn the warning signs of skin cancer in darker skin tones.
Check your skin for signs of skin cancer.
Make an appointment to see a board-certified dermatologist if you find anything that looks like skin cancer.
Images
Image 1: Getty Images
Images 2,5-12,14,16,17: Used with permission of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology:
J Am Acad Dermatol. 2006;55(5):741-60. (2, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 17)
J Am Acad Dermatol. 2014;70(4):748-62. (5, 7, 10, 14, 16)
Images 3,13,15,18: Used with permission of the American Academy of Dermatology’s Clinical Image Collection.
Image 4: Produced with permission from ©DermNet www.dermnetnz.org 2025.
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Written by:
Paula Ludmann, MS
Reviewed by:
Nkanyezi Ferguson, MD, FAAD
Nathaniel Jellinek, MD, FAAD, FACMS
William Warren Kwan, MD, FAAD
Ata Moshiri, MD, MPH, FAAD
Last updated: 6/3/25
All content solely developed by the American Academy of Dermatology
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