I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with my moles. I have a very prominent one near my nose that got me picked on at school (and even on dating apps many years later – you’ll be shocked to hear that we didn’t match).

Although many moles are formed when we’re children or in our teens and are of no concern, having come from a mole-y family, I’ve seen first-hand the high risks that go hand-in-hand with subtle irregularities that go unnoticed, so I’ve been diligent about keeping a close eye on my scattering of dots. Considering rates of melanoma have risen by 147% since the 90s, it seems like something that should be on everyone’s radar. 

I’m ghostly pale, so I’ve never been near a sun bed; I apply SPF daily, even when the UV index is below three; and I diligently reapply it whenever I jet off to a sunny climate, but that still wasn’t enough to prevent my arm from burning a little during my summer holiday. I kept it out of the sun, lathered it in after-sun and it quickly healed. However, it left behind a cluster of moles of different shapes, shades and sizes, which raised some red flags. 

I was keen to get some peace of mind about certain areas I was worried about and have a thorough record of my current moles to help me keep an eye on them. 

In order to do that, I turned to mole mapping. Essentially, it’s a machine that takes a scan of your body to identify atypical moles and helps you keep track of them to see if they change with time. 

For this, I went to the Montrose London clinic in Belgravia, which uses a Canfield DermaGraphix AI machine – one of the most advanced bits of tech for this particular subject. 

I first spoke to consultant dermatologist Dr Zahra Haider, who had a look at the specific moles I was worried about and assessed my risk factors when it came to skin cancer (how often I go on holiday, whether I have any outdoor activities – you get the gist). Then, I was ready for my scan.

This was similar to the body scans you might encounter when going through airport security, except here I had to strip down to my underwear – it’s not a nightmare come to life, I promise; it’s to allow the machine to get a close-up of my skin from head to toe. There’s zero prep involved, so don’t worry about having to remove any fake tan or shaving.

Montrose London’s in-house nurse practitioner, Ciara Vereker, asked me to do some poses to try to catch every mole on my body. This involves the backs of my feet, inner thighs and underneath the underwire of my bra – areas I’d never even considered, if I’m honest. It was thorough, to say the least.

Once the scan was completed, it totalled up my moles, assessed them and filed them according to size, colour, and diameter, among other things. It was so nit-picky, that it even flagged individual chains in the necklace I was wearing, which my nurse practitioner then manually dismissed from the mix. 

All in all, it determined that the areas with the most moles were my arms, back and chest – my legs were surprisingly mole-free, which I’d never noticed before and, to my shame, I’d not realised that my back had so many. It was deemed a tricky area that I needed to pay closer attention to. 

Vereker took me through some of the moles individually and gave me close-ups of the ones that were classified as ‘lesions’, which were different shapes and sizes to help me distinguish between them all.

Luckily, none were flagged as risky, which meant I can wait 18 months before going in for an updated scan. I feared the entire process would take up half a day, so I couldn’t believe that I was walking out of the clinic just over an hour after I went in. It’s a great way to spend your lunch break, if you ask me.

Vereker explained that mole mapping was becoming particularly popular with people entering their 40s, but considering melanoma skin cancer rates are “rising steeply for females between 20-24 years old“, I felt there was no time like the present. 

The entire service sets you back £495, which is obviously quite an investment. Considering your skin is with you for the long haul, though, it seems justified if you’re worried about anything in particular. There are alternative methods, too.

Boots has teamed up with ScreenCancer to offer consultations from £40, with additional costs depending on how many moles you want seen to. However, having a full report (which was sent to my email after my appointment) felt like a thorough way to stay in control of my moles, and it’s something I’ll refer to regularly from now on, especially after a visit to the beach. 

Image: Adobe; Montrose London