A Guide To Performing Skin Checks On Yourself

If you’re a woman with breasts, you know the importance of performing at-home breast exams on yourself to check for any foreign lumps or abnormalities in your chest and armpit area to check for cancer.

However, many other body areas need to be regularly checked, such as the testicles for men and the skin for everybody. Your skin is your largest organ, and you must care for it properly.

Here are some ways to perform a skin exam at home so that you can check for any skin abnormalities.

The Importance of Skin Exams

It is vitally important to your health that you get your skin examined regularly. There are places on your body that you cannot reach by yourself to check, and there are also certain skin conditions that can only be identified and checked by a doctor.

You should aim to have a skin examination at least once a year to ensure that any skin abnormalities have not mutated since the year before and that any that have can be taken care of immediately.

However, it is not always feasible to have your skin checked this often. Many people need to do skin exams on themselves to be sure that there is nothing to worry about in-between visits to the dermatologist.

Mirror, Mirror

To check the front side of your body, stand in front of a mirror and examine all of the parts of your body that you cannot see without a mirror, starting with your head, neck, and shoulders and moving down.

Ensure that you examine each part of your body thoroughly to know that there are no abnormalities that need to be checked out. You should be looking for things such as irritated skin, dry patches, or new moles and skin tags that were not there previously.

Take A Seat

Once you have examined all the parts of the front of your body that you cannot see without a mirror, it is time to take a seat. Sit on a chair or your bed or even in the bathtub and examine your arms, legs, and torso.

You will once again be searching for any abnormalities that may have cropped up. You will see these much more easily as they will be parts of your body that you see and feel every day.

Hand Mirror

Now that you have looked at everything on the front of your body, it is time to grab a hand mirror and examine the back of your body. Stand facing a mirror with your hand mirror behind you so that the hand mirror reflects the mirror you are facing.

Doing this will allow you to see the back of your body and any other hard-to-reach places that you cannot see while facing a mirror or doing the sitting examination. Be thorough in each examination because you want to ensure that you don’t pass any potential threats.