When attending your appointment at our clinic for a skin check or mole map, please:

When you attend for your skin check, you will be directed to a private room where you will be expected to undress to your underwear (a gown will be provided).

If there are any lesions or areas of concern, images will be taken for comparison at a future consultation.

The Southern Skin Cancer Clinic offers services for full body skin checks. Our specially trained nurses use a hand-held dermatascope to check your body from head to toe looking for any suspicious lesions.

If suspicious lesions are identified, a treatment plan will be discussed.

Some lesions are suitable for cryotheraphy and may be done at the same time as your skin check.

Topical creams may also be used for treating some skin cancers or pre-cancers.

Some lesions may require a sample to be taken and sent to pathology. This is called a biopsy. Other lesions may require more extensive excision.

Biopsies and excisions are performed under local anaesthetic, which is a small injection around the lesion to be treated. This will make the area numb for approximately 60 – 90 minutes.

Sutures are usually used to close the wound and will require a return visit so the doctor can review the wound’s healing, remove the  sutures and discuss any pathology results. This will occur generally within 4 – 7 days for facial excisions and up to 14 days lesions removed from legs or back.

If you have multiple lesions that require monitoring, you may be advised to have a mole map. This is done by our specially trained nurses using our state of the art FotoFinder machine. Digital images are taken of the whole body and can be used in future consultations.

Early detection is paramount to the management of skin cancer. For peace of mind, have regular skin checks or learn to perform your own skin checks on a regular basis.

Consult your doctor with any concerns you may have.