GP, dermatologist, or skin cancer clinic: Where to get your skin checked?

If you notice a sus­pi­cious spot on your skin, most peo­ple see their Gen­er­al Prac­ti­tion­er, who is your fam­i­ly physi­cian. As some­body who knows your health his­to­ry, your GP can inform you if you are at high risk of skin can­cer and your options for skin checks.

Skin can­cer and melanoma are com­mon in Aus­tralia, so GPs are famil­iar with deal­ing with these health con­cerns. They can con­duct skin exam­i­na­tions and teach you how to con­duct self-exam­i­na­tions at home. Many are able to pro­vide treat­ment (once diag­nosed) and ongo­ing man­age­ment of some skin cancers.

GPs in Aus­tralia are con­sid­ered gate­keep­ers to spe­cial­ist ser­vices, so if you need a sec­ond opin­ion or if the GP sus­pects melanoma or skin can­cer, they will refer you to a der­ma­tol­o­gist, who can look at the spot or mole more close­ly. Or they may refer you to skin can­cer detec­tion spe­cial­ists like MoleMap for a skin check or mole check and ongo­ing surveillance.

Skin can­cer clin­ics are likened to one-stop shops as they are con­ve­nient for patients and easy to get an appoint­ment. They offer many ser­vices in one place, includ­ing ini­tial con­sul­ta­tion, biop­sies, and removal of sus­pect spots. Clin­ics are usu­al­ly run by GPs with a spe­cial inter­est and extra train­ing in skin cancer.

If you’re con­sid­er­ing to vis­it a skin can­cer clin­ic run by GPs, it’s impor­tant to choose one that suits your needs. Here are some ques­tions to help you decide.

1. What is the qual­i­fi­ca­tion of the per­son assess­ing and diag­nos­ing my spots?
2. What tech­nol­o­gy do they use to check and diag­nose my spots? What types of imag­ing do they take of my spots? Do they mon­i­tor changes in my spots over time?
3. How much does the skin can­cer check appoint­ment and diag­no­sis cost? Is there a fee for me to come back if a mole needs to be cut out? How much does it cost to cut out each mole?

You can also vis­it a dif­fer­ent kind of clin­ic, one where your appoint­ment is with a melanog­ra­ph­er and your spots are diag­nosed by dermatologists.

All MoleMap clin­ics are run by melanog­ra­phers who are reg­is­tered nurs­es with spe­cialised train­ing in the ear­ly detec­tion of melanoma and oth­er skin can­cer. Your spots are reviewed and diag­nosed by a der­ma­tol­o­gists after your appoint­ment – via telemedicine.

The melanog­ra­ph­er con­ducts a thor­ough head-to-toe skin check using a der­mato­scope to assess sus­pi­cious moles or lesions. The melanog­ra­ph­er takes images of the inter­nal struc­ture of your moles. Once the test is com­plete, the melanog­ra­ph­er then secure­ly sends the images to expe­ri­enced der­ma­tol­o­gists for expert diag­no­sis and reporting.

But what tru­ly sets MoleMap apart is the advanced tech­nol­o­gy they’ve pio­neered to detect and diag­nose ear­ly stage melanoma. In fact, since 1997, they have been the glob­al lead­ers in scan­ning and diag­nos­ing melanoma and skin cancer.

This state-of-the-art tech­nol­o­gy is com­prised of three main parts:

• Thor­ough skin check. They use a hand­held der­mato­scope to per­form a thor­ough head-to-toe skin check. The der­mato­scope allows them to see the intri­cate struc­tures of your moles and note any sus­pi­cious features.
• Der­mo­scop­ic (sub­sur­face) and clin­i­cal imag­ing. This spe­cial­ly designed MoleMap cam­era sees into the inter­nal struc­ture of your moles past what the naked eye is capa­ble of. We also take clin­i­cal images to see where each spot is locat­ed on your body.
• Total body pho­tog­ra­phy. For a mole check, this cre­ates a com­plete record of your skin’s sur­face and takes note of each indi­vid­ual mole. It pro­vides a sol­id base­line for iden­ti­fy­ing and mon­i­tor­ing any poten­tial future changes in your moles over time.
• The use of this state-of-the-art tech­nol­o­gy is accu­rate and may save you the cost of hav­ing unnec­es­sary moles removed.

If you have risk fac­tors for melanoma and/​or skin can­cer or if you have a sus­pect spot, you should see your GP who may pro­vide an assess­ment for you or refer you to a spe­cial­ist dermatologist.

In addi­tion, you can self-refer to a skin can­cer clin­ic which is run by GPs with a spe­cial inter­est in and extra train­ing in skin can­cer. They can usu­al­ly pro­vide treat­ment like hav­ing a mole removed.

You can also self-refer to a melanoma and spe­cial­ist skin can­cer detec­tion and diag­no­sis clin­ic like MoleMap. Here you will be seen by a melanog­ra­ph­er and your spots will be diag­nosed by a der­ma­tol­o­gist via telemed­i­cine. If you choose a Full Body MoleMap your spots will be mon­i­tored over time for ear­ly detec­tion of melanoma – when it’s most treatable.

Are you sus­cep­ti­ble to skin can­cer? Use our free online assess­ment tool to deter­mine your risk.