The warnings signs of melanoma are a changing in mole, changing color, growing mole or bleeding mole, or a larger, irregular mole. Risk factors for melanoma include fair skin, red hair, blue eyes, blistering sunburns, family history of melanoma, tanning bed use, and atypical moles. An excisional biopsy will remove the lesion and diagnose the cancer. If a melanoma is thicker and extends to the lymph nodes, it has worse prognosis.