Monitor Your Moles

Monitor Your Moles

One of the most important warning signs of melanoma is change. A new spot on the skin, or a spot that is changing in size, shape, or color should be carefully monitored and seen by a healthcare provider. Because it’s hard to remember what our spots look like from month to month to detect those changes, MoleMapper™ allows you to monitor the size and appearance of your moles both over time.

To monitor your moles, you need a series of mole photographs. After measuring your moles in a zone the first time, tapping on a zone again brings up the most recent picture of the zone. Each mole is identified with map pins. You can tap on each pin to bring up the basic information about the mole then tap on the menu icon to bring up other options. Those options include deleting the mole if you no longer want to track it, identifying the mole as having been removed by a physician, or renaming the mole.

You can create an updated set of mole measurements by tapping on the “Photograph zone” button near the bottom. Tapping this will show the help screen followed by the live camera feed overlaid with circles identifying where your moles were in the previous photograph. Try to line up your moles to fit with those circles. Tap on the screen to autofocus and take the picture. The app will try to find the moles where the circles were and draw circles around them. If moles that are found in the picture are different in location or size, the app will add a question mark to the pin. You should double-check the estimate. You can drag pins around and they will “snap” around a mole if it finds one near where you drop it. As always, you can correct the position and size of the mole estimate.

The app tracks measurement data — if you use a reference coin — to show if growth is occurring. You can see a summary of these changes on the “Dashboard” tab. You will also be able to view a ‘slideshow’ series of individual moles over time, allowing you to rapidly compare their appearance. Because this is comparison data, it is essential to re-map and measure your moles periodically — we recommend and remind you to measure monthly.

Use MoleMapper™ to monitor by yourself, or even use these images to share with your physician at your next appointment. This information can be powerful information for your physician as they determine what is normal or unusual for your skin.

Measure < Home