Unless your risk is very low, or you have recently had a full body skin check, we normally recommend you have a full body skin check by an accredited skin cancer doctor.
Even if you are only concerned about one or two spots, you might have a skin cancer that you are unaware of.
We recommend a full body skin check once each year for anyone with any of the following risk factors.
The most significant risk factor for skin cancer is a history of skin cancer or certain high risk conditions, including:
Yearly full body skin check.
For your first visit, consider a full body skin check with total body mole mapping photography so there's a record of your skin for comparison at future skin checks.
Conditions and medications that affect the immune system increase skin cancer risk.
Yearly full body skin check.
For your first visit, consider a full body skin check with total body mole mapping photography so there's a record of your skin for comparison at future skin checks.
Long term and/or intense exposure to ultraviolet light and certain chemicals increases the risk of skin cancer.
Yearly full body skin check.
For your first visit, consider a full body skin check with total body mole mapping photography so there's a record of your skin for comparison at future skin checks.
The risk of skin cancer increases with age. People with fairer skin have a higher risk of skin cancer when young.
Yearly full body skin check.
For your first visit, consider a full body skin check with total body mole mapping photography so there's a record of your skin for comparison at future skin checks.
If your first degree relatives (parents, siblings or children) have ever had a skin cancer, your own risk increased.
Yearly full body skin check.
For your first visit, consider a full body skin check with total body mole mapping photography so there's a record of your skin for comparison at future skin checks.
People with more than 100 moles have a higher risk of developing melanoma. If it's hard to keep track of new and changing spots, consider full body mole mapping photography.
Yearly full body skin check including full body mole mapping photography.
In certain circumstances, we don't routinely recommend full body skin cancer screening:
This doesn't mean you can't get skin cancer; it means it's usually more cost-effective to examine your own skin. If you prefer not to do this, you are welcome to attend our clinic.
Mole mapping is the process of taking multiple photographs of the skin from a distance. We take 28-30 photographs to document almost your entire body surface.
The photographs are a reference for later comparison.
More information about mole mapping...
If you have 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 very high risk patients and therefore improve the chances of successful treatment.
Even if you don't have very high melanoma risk, you may choose to have mole mapping because:
If you have mole mapping once, you don't necessarily need to have your entire body photographed every time you return for a skin cancer check.
We don't routinely recommend mole mapping for all patients since it hasn't been conclusively proven to increase melanoma diagnosis in low and average risk patients.
If you have just one or a couple of spots of concern, it might be appropriate to have just those spots checked.
If you have risk factors for skin cancer and haven't had a full body skin check for over a year, it's usually preferable to have your whole body checked, in case of skin cancers you aren't aware of.
Having just one or a few selected spots checked can be a suitable option if: