Booklet: What You Need to Know about Dysplastic Nevi

Introduction

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has written this booklet to help you learn more about common moles and unusual ones called dysplastic nevi or atypical moles. This booklet shows what moles look like and explains how they may be related to melanoma, a type of skin cancer. It describes the signs of melanoma and explains how you can check your skin for moles that might be cancerous. It also explains why and how you can protect your skin. Other NCI booklets about skin cancer and cancer prevention are listed in the "Other Booklets" section.

Cancer research has led to real progress against cancer--better survival and an improved quality of life. Through research, our knowledge about moles and cancers of the skin keeps increasing. We are finding new ways to prevent, detect, and treat cancer. 

Words that may be new to readers are printed in italics. Definitions of these and other terms related to moles and melanoma are listed in the Glossary section. For some words, a "sounds-like" spelling is also given.

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