LAS VEGAS -- Melanoma in African Americans is likely to be subungual, on the soles, between the toes, or in mucous membranes, although any hypopigmented skin lesion deserves a careful look, Dr. A. Paul Kelly said at the annual meeting of the National Medical Association.

Subungual melanoma is nearly as common in African Americans as it is in white patients, noted Dr. Kelly professor and chairman of the department of dermatology at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles.

Yet subungual melanoma can be a challenge to diagnose in older African Americans, who commonly have benign linear nail streaks that may be brown or even dark brown.

"Look ...