WHY DO A FULL BODY SKIN CHECK?

Six o’clock in the evening, we had just finished our last consultation and packed up all the instruments. It was another normal day in the clinic: over 30 skin cancers, with majority being basal cell carcinoma (BCC).

Mr XX was one among the many patients that day. He attended the clinic to have a spot on his face check, which was a seborrhoiec keratosis – a benign spot. With my persistence, Mr XX agreed to have a full body skin check, although he said: ‘I am sure there is no other spots elsewhere on my body’. Unfortunately, it turned out there was a spot. It was a BCC on his calf, just hiding in an area he could not easily see everyday. This is not uncommon for us. We have seen melanomas hiding on the back of the shoulder, behind the knee, or on the back of the arm.

There are so many spots on the body that you do not see everyday. Besides, a skin cancer or melanoma might not appear the way you think it should be. So when a doctor offers you a full body skin check, grab the opportunity please. It might just save your life.