Can people recommend a good skin cancer clinic in Melbourne? Preferably one where you don't need a referral and can get in at short notice? Or are these the kind of clinics I should avoid?
Are there any clinics that have better technology available for skin cancer detection than others? Any doctors that you thought were exceptional?
Cheers
Its probably worth asking your GP who they recommend… its not something to wait or go cheap on.
YMMV
I went to my GP August last year.. Had look at a few marks i had. Did a biopsy on my nose, SCC. Was worse then plastic surgeon thought. Had two surgeries, 17 radiations. While waiting for plastics to close the three holes I have in my nose another SCC was discovered on my scalp. Had that removed eight weeks ago. I'm halfway through seventeen radiations for that.
Dpn't mess around.
Glad your on the mend… but your certainly going through a hard time.
have lost a few friends to it coming from a beach town… sadly most didnt heed the slip slop slap back in the 80s as it wasnt tough.
I've had a lot of BCCs removed and I'm only in my forties. Doing skin checks every 6-9 months now. Had a lot of sun exposure with my job and traveling in the tropics. Hopefully I can avoid leaving it until it gets to a late stage or more serious condition or type of skin cancer. I had a BCC on my nose and they treated it with Aldara cream. Thanks for the advice and wish you well.
All the best for your recovery. Thanks for the post. We need to be proactive in getting skin checks.
I have a brilliant GP. He spotted my Melanoma even though the core biopsy came back indeterminate. He removed the melanoma and had it tested, Unfortunately it was a tad deeper than they hoped so he got me fast tracked to see a specialist. If you want his name then PM me. He is in the Melbourne CBD.
Thanks for that. I'm unable to message you because I'm overseas at the moment.
From my experience, I did the skin test at my GP, they identified 3 sites for biopsy but gave me the option for proactive removal as well. Was about $700 all up - less some rebates from medicare. No cancers luckily for me but will be back in a year for another check.
Medicare actually gives you a better refund if they are not bad.
I have gone to a guy out in lalor. Clinic is fine and he has a good setup with the cameras for recording all moles for future checks. My only gripe was that he removed two moles quite close to each other, one quite large and one small. He only removed about 70% of the large and own of them came back as requiring further removal so had to go back again to get more removed. I questioned why he didn't just remove the whole mole rather than just part of it. After some back and forth he agreed to do it under Medicare 100%. The resulting duel scar isn't very nice with heavy thickening of skin. But ultimately can't fault him on his care and compromise on price. I think he charged $90 for initial consultation and about $130 odd per mole for removal. No Medicare rebate as I assume.he claims it.
Highly recommend Skin Cancer Centre Cranbourne 0359951036. As a pensioner I pay nothing for yearly checks.
They took me seriously and had me fast tracked to Monash Hospital asap for biopsy, when a small itchy recurrence happened.
The Sun Patrol skin cancer clinic (I had to pay) in Berwick, had dismissed my concerns, saying it was not skin cancer, so just burnt the spot, and it bled after. As it turned out the cancer had changed to a more serious type of cancer and I needed urgent attention.
Whenever in doubt get that second opinion!
I have some nasty scarring after 3 operations for the same area basal skin cancer that morphed into an aggressive cancer.
Yeah will definitely be looking for second opinions. Thanks for the heads up.
Whatever you do, don’t delay. Very best of luck.
Thank you.
I had a good experience at MoleMap in Ringwood. I mention this because you don’t need a referral and might be able to get an appointment at relatively short notice (like wait 1 business day). Note, the person checking the whole body is a qualified skin person and/or a nurse. Mine seemed to have a good grounding in dermatological lesions. All questionable lesions are then sent (via macro and micro photos) to a dermatologist for review… though that does take a couple of days.
Likely you'll do two sessions anyway, a skin check then a biopsy, or you go to your GP who orders a biopsy.