My girlfriend has white spots. Skin cancer?

Question

My girlfriend who is latino, so tan, has this white spot about a centimeter in diameter below her collarbone that showed up in the past year and just in the last week she got another white spot thats smaller few inches below that. She's no out in the sun allll the time and never tans in beds but she goes to beaches here and there and never wears sunscreen cuz shes half peruvian and never gets burned. Does skin cancer ever show up in white smooth white spots?

Answer 1

Do not worry. It is not Cancer and not harmful. It is Leukoderma or Vitiligo (vit-ih-LI-go) is a condition in which your skin loses melanin, the pigment that determines the color of your skin, hair and eyes. Vitiligo occurs when the cells that produce melanin die or no longer form melanin causing slowly enlarging white patches of irregular shapes to appear on your skin.

The main sign of vitiligo is pigment loss that produces milky-white patches (depigmentation) on your skin. Other less common signs may include:

    * Premature whitening or graying of the hair on your scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows or beard

    * Loss of color in the tissues that line the inside of your mouth (mucous membranes)

In some cases, medical treatment for vitiligo may not be necessary. Self-care steps, such as using sunscreen and applying cosmetic camouflage cream, may improve the appearance of your skin. For fair-skinned individuals, avoiding tanning can make the areas almost unnoticeable.

Depending on the number, size and location of the white patches, you may decide to seek medical treatment. Medical treatments for vitiligo aim to even out skin tone, either by restoring color (pigment) or destroying the remaining color.-

For more details see website- http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitilig...

Answer 2

Sounds like vitiligo rather than any type of skin cancer.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitilig...

Answer 3

It could be a fungus in the skin..i have seen alot of people with this (especially in people that tan) some foods, medicine and birth control can also cause this. She should get extra strength selsan blue hair shampoo and put it on the white spots for about a minute and then rinse it off, do this twice a day everyday and they should go away...if they dont go away, then it is something else.

Answer 4

Skin cancer rarely turns up white - it is more likely to be vitiligo - where skin loses its pigment.

Or it could be a small skin infection, like tinea versicolour. This is not contagious, and can be treated easily with a shampoo that contains selenium sulfide (its just put straight on the skin).

If shes worried though, you should go see a doctor, just for peace of mind!