A client at a community skin screening has numerous skin lesions. Which one does the nurse evaluate first?

Question

a. Beige freckles on the backs of both hands
b. Irregular blue mole with white specks on the lower leg
c. Large cluster of pustules in the right axilla
d. Raised, tubular, white areas on the inner aspects of the wrists

Answer 1

B
This mole fits two of the criteria for being cancerous or precancerous: variation of color within one lesion, and an indistinct or irregular border. Melanoma is an invasive malignant disease with the potential for a fatal outcome. Freckles are a benign condition. Pustules could mean an infec-tion, but it is more important to take care of the potentially cancerous lesion first.