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How to detect skin cancer early
The best way to detect skin cancer early is to look for it regularly.
If you’re familiar with your own skin, you can notice new or changing spots or lumps. For the spots you don’t notice, have a skin check with an experienced doctor or skin cancer clinician.
Check your skin regularly
Skin cancers usually appear as “ugly duckling” spots, most commonly appearing on normal skin.
You don’t need special training to detect an ugly duckling; it can be bigger, darker, lighter, differently-shaped, rougher or different from the other spots in many different ways.
You identify them by comparing them with the surrounding spots. If you notice a new or changing outlier or “odd one out”, it might be a skin cancer – you should have it checked by a doctor.
MBBS, MA (Virtual Comm), Grad Cert Hlth Info, Grad Dip Comp Inf Sci
Tips to detect skin cancer
If you're familiar with your own skin, you can notice new or changing spots or lumps. For the spots you don’t notice, have a skin check with an experienced doctor or skin cancer clinician.
Using your phone and the MoleScope app, you can record what your skin looks like at any given time. The app allows you to photograph:
- Individual spots of interest.
- Regions of your body (i.e. you can perform your own mole mapping at home).
Once you’ve photographed your moles or body regions a few times, you can compare them side-by-side on your computer to see if there are any odd-looking new spots or changes to existing ones.
The MoleScope app also allows you to send photos to one of our doctors for an opinion if it’s not possible for you to attend the clinic.
Learn more about photographing your moles.
About half of the melanomas detected in Australia are discovered by health workers examining patients who were unaware of the melanoma’s presence. Without an examination, these melanomas may have been present for much longer before they were noticed by the patient, their partner, a friend or a family member. This delay in diagnosis could potentially allow the melanoma time to spread to other parts of the body, leading to serious illness.
When a doctor, nurse or other skin cancer clinician checks your body, they use a dermoscope, allowing them to see fine details beneath the skin’s surface. These details assist in skin cancer detection earlier than possible without dermoscopic examination.
If you’re at risk of skin cancer, you should consider having your skin examined every year.
Get insights from our medical team on skin cancer, mole checks and reducing skin cancer risk
Meet our team
Our doctors, nurses and dermal clinicians have qualified experience in managing skin cancer, skin conditions and selecting and providing aesthetic treatments.
Dr Chris Miller
Dr Chris Miller is a primary care skin cancer doctor, and principal doctor at Spot Check Clinic, since 2017.
Dr Sahar Shirkhanloo
Sahar is a skin cancer doctor committed to the early detection and surgical intervention of skin cancers.
Valerie Tra
Valerie is a registered nurse with qualifications and extensive experience in dermal therapies.
Courtney S
Courtney has been immersed in healthcare administration since 2006, serving diverse medical specialties in Australia and abroad.
Dusko Lapcevic
Dusko played a key role in establishing Spot Check Clinic alongside Dr. Miller.
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Detect skin cancers earlier with a skin check, dermoscopic photography and mole mapping at Spot Check Clinic.
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