Natural forces such as gravity and biological feedback mechanisms favour symmetry, and so it is no surprise that both complex organisms and benign lesions tend to be symmetrical.

Malignant cells defy

Malignant lesions often ‘break the pattern’ clinically, which is consistent with the chaotic behaviour of malignant tissue.

This can be expressed by a lesion standing out because of its colour, size

Because melanin appears black, brown, grey or blue depending on whether it is located in the stratum corneum, dermoepidermal junction, superficial dermis or deep dermis respectively, dermatoscopy

The term ‘dysplastic naevus’ cannot be consistently defined either clinically or histologically,1 and the speculative model in which naevi evolve into melanomas has been largely dispelled, with

According to the widely publicised ABCD clinical method of melanoma diagnosis, A stands for asymmetry, B for border irregularity, C for colours and D refers to a diameter of 6mm or more.

This has led

Australasia has the world’s highest incidence of melanoma. This is attributed to the impact of high levels of solar radiation on a predominantly fair-skinned population of Anglo-Saxon origin. This is

Squamos cell carcinoma (SCC) is common in Australasia, being more clearly associated with high cumulative sun-exposure than melanoma. It is a significant cause of death, with one death from SCC for

Nodular melanomas comprise less than 10% of melanomas, but are disproportionately responsible for melanoma deaths.

Clinically they are often nearly symmetrical and lacking the usual ‘ABCD’ criteria.

A 75-year-old woman presented to her general practitioner for a skin examination. Two lesions were noticed on her back (Figure 2).

Both lesions ‘broke the pattern’. The one on the left had a rough

Melanoma of the nail-matrix is rare with a reported incidence of about 0.1/100,000;1 that is one in a million, (compared to approximately 49/100,000 for invasive melanomas in Australia).2
The reported