1-3 mole check

After your skin check, you should have a plan to manage current issues (e.g. skin cancers, suspicious spots, rashes), enable early diagnosis of skin cancers if they occur, reduce your risk of new skin cancers developing and treat existing sun damage to your skin.

If you live in Australia, have white skin and are aged 40 or over, you should probably have a full body skin cancer check every year.

If you have a very high risk of melanoma and more than 100 moles, you should consider having mole mapping every year. There is evidence that mole mapping can allow earlier detection of melanoma in high-risk patients and therefore improve the chances of successful treatment.

Mole mapping adds to the cost of a skin cancer check and people often feel uncomfortable being photographed while they are nearly naked, so it's understandable to ask if molemapping is worth the expense and trouble. The answer isn't always straightforward; for some people, regular mole mapping is highly recommended, and for others, it doesn't have significant clinical benefits.

A mole can come back after removal, usually if some mole tissue is left in place during the mole removal procedure. This can occur for various reasons, such as insufficient treatment width, depth or duration.

Facial moles can be removed, often with minimal scarring. The procedure varies according to the type of mole, whether it's flat or raised, and if a sample of skin needs to be sent to a laboratory for examination.

Moles can be removed without scarring. Unfortunately, not all moles are suitable for removal using low-scarring techniques and even these techniques can result in scarring in certain cases. An experienced skin cancer doctor or dermatologist can usually examine the mole and discuss scarring risk factors to advise whether it's realistic to expect no or minimal scarring after the removal of a given mole.

Moles can be removed for cosmetic reasons. There are several methods for removing moles that give excellent cosmetic results, often with little to no scarring. These methods may not be suitable for all moles, and are usually not appropriate for skin cancers.

Moles can be removed without surgery. This can be a quick, relatively painless and low-scarring way of removing moles. Non-surgical techniques include IPL, laser, cryotherapy, radiofrequency, and electrosurgery. These procedures aren't suitable for all moles. Any mole that resembles a melanoma must be surgically removed.

For simple procedures on very superficial lesions, you might only need a single visit. For deeper moles with a higher risk of scarring, you may require multiple treatments over several months.