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MoleMap is the world’s most advanced melanoma surveillance programme. We combine advanced technology with the skills of a panel of international dermatologists to diagnose melanoma at the earliest possible stage.
Combining the latest technology with the skills of expert dermatologists is required as sometimes melanoma, especially early stage melanoma, is extremely difficult to diagnose. The following images help illustrate the varying levels of skill required to diagnoses melanoma: Obvious Melanoma Skin Cancer:   These two images are of obvious melanoma. These melanomas are generally more advanced, with poorer outcomes, and are usually initially identified by the patient. Less Obvious Melanoma Skin Cancer:   Melanoma such as these are harder to diagnose but are still generally picked up via a naked eye inspection by a doctor without the need for any tools to aid their diagnosis. Melanoma such as these have better survival rates that those above. Difficult to Diagnose Melanoma Skin Cancer:   These, usually very early stage melanomas, are considerably more difficult to diagnose with the naked eye and therefore require additional tools to help identify them. Melanoma removed at this stage has close to 100% survivability, and if you have a melanoma, this is when you want it found & removed. Additional tools that have been clinical proven to help diagnose subtle or undiagnosable melanoma and are utilised as standard by MoleMap include: Total Body Photography (TBP): TBP creates a complete record of your skin and is widely used for the management of at-risk patients particularly those with a large number of moles. TBP helps clinicians identify new moles (up to 50% of melanomas arise out of previously unmarked skin i.e. not out of existing moles) and pick up subtle changes in existing moles that may have gone unchecked if TBP were not available. Several authors point out that TBP was the key factor in detecting melanoma in their high risk patients. Every new patient that has a MoleMap receives TBP to create a record, or baseline, of their skin to help our clinicians identify new/changing moles that may be indicative of melanoma. Digital Dermoscopy: Dermoscopy combines high magnification and high light intensity to illuminate sub-surface features and vascular networks of pigmented lesions – diagnostic feature that cannot be observed with the naked eye alone. The use of dermoscopy greatly enhances the diagnostic accuracy for melanoma i.e. more melanomas are identified using dermoscopy than relying solely on a naked eye inspection. Dermoscopy also helps reduce the need for unnecessary excision of benign lesions. The diagnosis of melanoma via dermoscopy does require a high level of skill as some vascular features of melanoma are very subtle even to a trained set of eyes. This is why MoleMap draws on the experience of an international panel of dermatologists to assess every mole of each MoleMap patient. Dermatologists have undergone a minimum of 13 years training, which includes general medical training followed by specialist training in all area's of skin disease. Digital Serial Monitoring: If there is one universal truth about melanoma then that is change. All melanomas change shape size or colour so having the ability to track moles over a period of time (3 months – 1 year) enables dermatologists to pick up changes that may indicate early stage melanoma. This process is especially useful for identifying clinically featureless melanomas (i.e. melanomas that look like a normal mole) that would otherwise be missed by a routine one off clinical observation. So if you're concerned about a mole or lesion call MoleMap on 1800 MOLEMAP or book online now. Click here to read more benefits of having a MoleMap. |
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