Preventing melanoma: McGill med student’s app helps people track worrying moles

A McGill medical student has developed an app to help patients keep track of worrying moles to prevent cases of melanoma.

A McGill University medical student has developed a new app to help patients keep track of worrying moles.

The idea came after Roy Khalaf, a fourth-year student, met a patient with terminal melanoma. The father of three young children told him he regretted not paying closer attention to a mole that turned out to be cancerous.

“I think seeing him talk about how it was caught later on instead of early on and how this had a tremendous impact on himself and also his family’s life,” Khalaf described in an interview with CTV News.

“That really made me realize that there needs to be at least an app or an encouragement for patients to be able to track their own moles.”

Khalaf set out to build one of his own and now Melanoscope is available to download for free on Apple’s App Store.

The smartphone app prompts the user to take a photo, enter the size and colour of the mole, then set a reminder to check the mole again.

“Something I really like about the app is that it really encourages patients, for example, weekly or maybe monthly, to just take another picture of their mole, to sort of see the difference in terms of shape, size and colour,” Khalaf explained.

Helping make the right diagnosis

The app stores all the photos in one place and allows patients to bring evidence to their doctors if they see something suspicious.

“My primary focus, I would say, is to be able to show these primary care physicians and dermatologists [and say] ‘Look, six months ago it looked like this. It was smaller, it was a different colour. And then two months ago, it changed into this. And now it’s come to this size and this abnormal shape,’ you know? And this really helps the dermatologist make the right diagnosis,” he said.

The app has the support of Melanoma Canada. CEO Falyn Katz says early detection is key to improving chances of survival.

“They can be diagnosed smaller and, you know, stage zero, versus being diagnosed, you know, stage three, four, which is the difference between a simple surgery and potentially needing immunotherapy and more,” Katz said.

Approximately four people die from melanoma every day in Canada and Khalaf says he hopes tools like his app will help save lives.