In the most of the cases doctors could often recognize skin cancer just by looking at the following:

• Your doctor may be encouraged to look for the growths by doing a complete examination of the whole skin surface.  This physical examination should be done at least once a year, though it can be reduced more often if you already have a past history regarding this.
• There a lots of people who have detected skin cancer while doing a regular skin self-examination. Though a biopsy can be said the only way to identify the skin cancer. Aside from that by doing it the doctor can also determine the specific types of cancer. In this procedure the doctors first removes cells or tissues and examines them under a microscope. But the examination generally done by a dermatopathologist or a doctor, who has studied on diseased tissue under a microscope.

Generally the following two types of biopsy are done in most of the cases of skin cancer, such as:

• Excisional biopsy :

In an excisional biopsy the entire visible growth are cut away. In the cases of small non melanoma skin cancer this types of biopsy may also be the only necessary treatment, but for the other cancer stages like malignant melanoma it usually requires an additional removal of a wider margin of normal tissues around the whole site.

• Incisional biopsy :

An  incisional biopsy are also quiet be able to remove only the sample  of growth, though the further treatment  is also necessary if the microscopic exam reveals that those cells are cancer cell.