Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer: Signs and Symptoms

Skin cancers rarely cause symptoms until they become quite large. Then they may bleed or even hurt.

Basal cell carcinomas often appear as flat, firm, pale areas or small, raised, pink or red, translucent, shiny, waxy areas that may bleed following a minor injury. They may have one or more visible irregular blood vessels, a depressed area in their center, and/or blue, brown, or black areas. Large basal cell carcinomas may have oozing or crusted areas.

Squamous cell carcinomas may appear as growing lumps, often with a rough surface, or as flat reddish patches in the skin that grow slowly.

Both of these types of nonmelanoma skin cancer may develop as a flat area showing only slight changes from normal skin.

There are skin cancers other than melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma. Although they are much less common, they include the following:

Kaposi sarcoma generally starts as small bruise-like areas that develop into tumors.

Mycosis fungoides (a type of lymphoma that starts in the skin) usually begins as a rash, often on the buttocks, hips, or lower abdomen. It can look similar to skin allergies and other types of skin irritations.

Adnexal tumors appear as bumps within the skin.

Skin sarcomas appear as large masses under the skin surface.

Merkel cell tumors are usually firm, pink, red, or purple nodules or ulcers (sores) found on the face or, less often, the arms or legs.