Queensland has the highest recorded incidence rate of melanoma recorded from all western countries where accurate records exist. Melanoma may spread to other parts of the body and become a deadly disease.
Every person over 16 should have an annual skin check. Patients with a history of melanoma or other skin diseases may need to have these checks more often. Any freckle, mole or lump changing in size, shape or colour should be checked by your GP.
Sunburn, whether frequent or infrequent, is a major factor in the development of melanoma, particularly in children. However, melanoma can also occur on non sun-exposed skin. People who burn easily, and either never or rarely tan, are at a much higher risk than people with darker skin who tan easily.
Other additional risk factors include a tendency to freckle, having more than 50 moles on the body, red or blonde hair and blue eyes.
Here at The Hub Medical Centre our doctors use modern computerised dermatoscope technology (Mole Mate) to take high resolution photographs of your skin. This piece of equipment helps the doctors to diagnose and monitor skin lesions.
If required, we can perform skin biopsies at the time of consultation or make another appointment time to perform a total excision of the lesion. In complicated cases we refer our patients to our skin specialist Dr. Tony Fitzgerald or to a dermatologist, a plastic surgeon or a general surgeon.
