Avoiding skin cancer misdiagnosis: potential melanomas and squamous cell carcinomas – when to worry

The combination of rising skin cancer incidence (15,419 new cases of melanoma in the UK in 2014) with increasing patient awareness translates to patients commonly presenting to their GP with worrying ‘lumps and bumps’. Most are subsequently shown to be benign; however, some serious cancers, including melanoma, are being missed, even by skilled dermoscopists. Increasingly, misdiagnosis of melanoma remains a major cause of litigation against GPs, GPs with special interests, dermatologists and dermatopathologists.