Well, that isn’t always the case.

Don’t be the case that’s missed.

Read these stories, and take away a new sense of self-vigilance.

“I was told the bump was simply a benign cyst.

Even after a friend advised her to have a dermatologist check it, she brushed off the suggestion.

When the PA never mentioned the bump, Glass inquired.

“She looked at it, poked it and said, ‘It’s nothing more than a cyst.

An ophthalmologist can remove it for aesthetic purposes,'” Glass recalls.

So she booked the procedure.

The removed tissue, sent to a lab for testing, was diagnosed as basal cell carcinoma.

“I was shocked.

The new tissue was lighter-skinned.

It took two more cosmetic surgeries for Glass to feel comfortable with her appearance.

“I’m so afraid of being misdiagnosed again,” she says.

Well, actually, the best two.”

Make time for your health: Get an annual skin check, regardless of your skin tone.

And choose your doctor wisely.

“Anyone, even a doctor, can potentially miss a skin cancer.

But studies show dermatologists are best at identifying them,” Dr. Kaufman explains.

A new dermatologist diagnosed the condition as an infection and treated it with antibiotics.

There, Rea inquired about the still-irritated skin on her back.

Alarmed, the surgeon biopsied the tissue.

The lesion had penetrated multiple layers of skin.

Rea required surgery to remove several layers of skin and tissue, leaving a 9-inch scar across her back.

Countless questions surfaced; among them: Was the mole cancerous when it was removed when Rea was 14?

(There was no way to know, unfortunately; the doctor never did a biopsy.)

Where did the original shaved-off tissue go?

(She learned that the doctor had thrown it out, despite lab testing being standard procedure.)

And why was the spot initially diagnosed as a simple infectionand not cancer?

Rea graduated from college and began a fashion career.

Then in March 2002, a month after getting married, she had her annual scan.

Her oncologist soon discovered the melanoma had returned.

It was removed, and Rea began immunotherapy.

But despite almost two years of treatment, another tumor appeared in her chest.

Rea died on March 16, 2007.

“I’m telling her story to convince other women to be vigilant.

Jaime wouldn’t want this to happen to anyone else,” Regen says.

Choose a doctor who is board-certified in dermatology; that assures the M.D.

is receiving continual cutting-edge training.

(Find one through theAmerican Academy of Dermatology.)

Ask how many skin checks and procedures she has done.

And never be afraid to get a second opinionit’s your health and life.

“I regularly check my skin for suspicious spots to stay healthy.

Her family had a pool, and Sanga played outside almost every day.

“At the time, we applied sunscreen only once a dayif that,” Sanga recalls.

As a result, she suffered two severe, blistering burns at the ages of 8 and 11.

On top of burning, Sanga frequented tanning beds as a teenager.

Considering her history of sun exposure, the doctor recommended that the spot be excised and biopsied immediately.

Two weeks later, the results revealed Sanga had basal cell carcinoma.

(It, too, can spread into deep layers of tissue and metastasize.)

But the battle resumed in the years that followed.

Seven, however, were actually diagnosed as basal or squamous cell carcinomas.

“I am covered with scars from head to toe,” she says.

“They are on my head, my neck, my armpit, my back.

Her doctor is currently monitoring an additional 30 spots.

So what gets her through the reality of more scalpels, stitches and scars?

“My strong desire to be around 50 years from now,” she says.

Photo Credit: Abbey Drucker