Are you at risk?
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, so it’s important to regularly have skin cancer checks carried out by a qualified professional.
Important risk factors include gender (men are at a greater risk than women); skin colour; eye/hair colour; number of moles; types of moles; family history of skin cancer; UV exposure; and age.
If you are aged over 40 and grew up in New Zealand, you are also more at risk, as it is likely sun protection wasn’t greatly valued during your childhood. Being sun smart is relatively new in this country, despite our high UV index.
If you are aged 60 plus, checking your skin regularly is particularly important as you are at greater risk of basal and squamous cell cancers.
Young people, who take medication that suppresses their immune system, are also much more susceptible to skin cancers such as melanoma, and basal and squamous cell cancers. If you take immunosuppressants, such as Humira and Azathioprine, you need to have your skin checked annually.
Having regular mole checks at our Mole Screen clinic will help to ensure that any skin cancer is captured early and effectively treated.
Early Detection
Early detection of skin cancers such as melanoma is crucial for ensuring minimally invasive treatment and it might save your life. Key aspects to early skin cancer detection are:
- Self-checks. We can advise you how to do these, what to look for and how often to check yourself.
- Professional skin inspection and individualised Melanoma Risk Assessment* based on New Zealand population data. We assess your risk of skin cancer at our Mole Screen clinic from an examination and your skin history.
- Dermoscopy, to detect changes to your skin before they can be seen with the naked eye. This gives a magnified view into the skin surface using polarised light. Suspicious skin spots or moles of high concern can then be biopsied for further management. For skin lesions of low concern, we can do short-term monitoring to avoid unnecessary biopsies.
- Total body photography and the latest AI image analysis tools to further support clinician detection of early change and diagnosis of harmful skin lesions.
*Melanoma risk assessment. This is only suitable for Caucasian people who are more than 30 years old.
I received a professional and thorough full skin check consultation from Michael. I felt relaxed throughout and that my concerns were listened to.
As an adult I’ve always tried to be careful in the sun but as a child, I would get sunburnt quite often. In those days you didn’t want to be the pale kid! I’m grateful to Dr Morrison for identifying some early changes in a mole that I’d had for many years. This mole turned out to be a melanoma which was caught before it could spread too deeply. I’m very happy to recommend Dr Morrison and Mole Screen.
I wish to express my appreciation of the care given to me while being mole screened and the excision of a lesion by Dr Morrison. The whole process was virtually pain free, with no pressure felt on excision or suturing. To be recommended, thank you.
My Mole Screen experience was both informative and professional. All my questions were answered and it gave me peace of mind. I would highly recommend the service.
I’ve had 30 years of skin lesions/cancers. Before Mole Screen it was an erratic process of self detecting skin cancer often only when very visible and symptomatic. Since regular full body Mole Screen checks I have had three melanomas detected early, in places I would not have seen or identified myself. Mole Screen provides me the confidence that changes to my skin are being identified early and treated in good time.