A non-invasive, optical method and device for the detection of melanoma in skin lesions. The detection of the presence of melanoma is accomplished optically by looking for specific changes (signatures) in the spectrum of optical light elastically scattered off melanoma molecules. Elastic scattering spectroscopy (ESS) converts subcellular morphological changes into scattering spectrum signatures. A melanoma discrimination analysis is performed by illuminating the lesion with a handheld device that also collects a portion of the scattered light, converts it into digital signals, analyzes the requisite spectral signatures, and provides a logical output showing the user the presence (or absence) of melanoma in the subject lesion.