A mum ‘diagnosed’ her own skin cancer after using smartphone app to check a worrying mole
Laura O’Donnell had become increasingly concerned after noticing the tiny growth on her stomach just before lockdown.
And it was after going on Google that she found the app - which came back with a red alert that her mole was at ‘high risk’ of being melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.
The 43-year-old from Bothwell in Lanarkshire says: “I have been very lucky.
"If I hadn’t used the app I probably wouldn’t have gone to my GP until now - and God knows what it could have been like at this stage.
“I’m a positive person, and I’m just glad it was diagnosed early and removed straight away. But I have no doubt that, in the long term, it could have saved my life.”
Laura first spotted the dark-coloured mole on her stomach in February 2020, reports the Daily Record.
She says: “I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I must have been in my underwear because I looked in the mirror and spotted a dark mole or a freckle on my stomach.
“I’m quite pale, with red hair and blue eyes, and I’ve got a lot of freckles, but this just didn’t look right.
“I took a picture and sent it to my mum and sisters on WhatsApp, but it began to play on my mind.”
Laura adds: “Throughout the years I’d often asked my doctor if a mark or a freckle looked okay or not, and I was always told not to worry about it.
"But this was just at that stage as we went into lockdown that you couldn’t get to see or speak to your GP - and like everyone else I was conscious of not putting pressure on the NHS. But it bothered me.”
That’s when Laura, a medical salesperson for an American company which sells obstetric and gynaecological devices, had an idea.
“I thought in this day and age, there must be something out there which can help me, there’ll be an app and I literally just Googled.”
Laura found an app called SkinVision which uses AI technology to assess your skin and identify any risk.
“It cost a few pounds but for that I could take pictures of five moles or freckles to be assessed, and they have an algorithm that checks them against a massive amount of data and expertise.
“Mine came back with a red alert that it was high risk.
“Because of the pandemic I left it for a few weeks but, because of the app warning, when it started to change shape and size I contacted my GP.”
And within days she had been referred to a dermatologist who took one look at the mole: “And said that’s coming off today!”
Laura continues: “When they gave me leaflets I saw that it was a textbook melanoma and, two days after I had the mole removed, they confirmed it and I had to go back into hospital to have more removed to make sure they had clear margins and had got it all.
"The NHS was excellent, I couldn’t have wished for better. They were amazing.”
A regular sunbed user and keen tanner, Laura is now much more careful.
“Before, my goal when I went on holiday was always to come back tanned and I’d be disappointed if I didn’t.
"Now, I will still enjoy the sun, but I’ll cover up with a hat, sunglasses and SPF50 - and go in the shade when it’s really hot.”
Laura says: “I know that, had it not been for the app, I would’ve put off going to see a doctor for much longer and my melanoma would not have been detected as early.
“I’m very lucky. Now my tan comes out of a bottle.”
Gill Nuttall, CEO of Melanoma UK, says: “Our goal is to get people to check their skin and look out for any changes to markings on their body.
“Melanoma is one of the few cancers we can see for ourselves. That means it’s in our power to catch it early and stand a better chance of dealing with it."
