Are there stitches involved? 

Sutures are used for closure of ellipse excisions, and these need to be removed at 7-14 days, depending on the site.  Most are removed at day 7 but lower legs take longer to heal. 

Do I need to come back to have the stitches removed?

Deep sutures dissolve by themselves over an extended period of time, however if they poke out through the skin at any stage in the healing process, they are usually removed to allow the wound to close completely. 

Shave excisions do not need sutures and heal up like a graze wound with appropriate dressings and wound care. 

Melanoma Scan - Skin Cancer Clinic

For further information, please feel free to Contact Us or follow the link to request an appointment by clicking Book Now.

Certified guide, hearing and assistance dogs are trained to do important tasks for their handler and have similar rights to people when accessing public places, public transport and places of accommodation.

Melanoma Scan policy requires patients to advise reception staff they will be attending with an assistance dog at the time of booking.
The clinic welcomes assistance dogs into the clinic waiting room, but not into the consulting/procedure rooms.

The Guide, Hearing and Assistance Dogs Act 2009 confirms these rights and fines apply to individuals or businesses that deny such access.

For more information refer to https://www.qld.gov.au/disability/out-and-about/ghad/access-public-places

PDT Light therapy (Photodynamic Therapy) is fast becoming a popular and effective treatment for pre-cancerous lesions and fields as well as some early cancers.

This therepy also has the added advantage of improving the look and feel of the skin.

A pre-treatment appointment should be completed 2-3 weeks prior to the light therapy treatment date.

Complete the form below and we will get back to you with the soonest available appointment.

Please note that the Light Therapy is currently only available in our Mitchelton Skin Cancer Clinic and our Toombul Skin Cancer Clinic in Nundah

Melanoma Scan first started in 2004 when the Director Dr Paul Annells saw a need for skin clinics on the North-Side of Brisbane with a specific focus on Skin Cancer. The first clinic to open was the Toombul clinic and then in 2006 the Mitchelton skin cancer clinic opened. The latest skin cancer clinic in Warner has now opened in January 2019

Our skin cancer clinics are proud to offer the latest in skin cancer imaging technology with our doctors who have a special interest in skin cancer and associated conditions.

Melanoma Scan Warner

Warner Plaza, Shop 2 1405 Old North Road, Warner 4500 Ph: 07 3106 1340

Melanoma Scan Mitchelton

Unit 1/23 Blackwood Street, Mitchelton 4053 Ph: 07 3855 8500

Send us a message

The Melanoma Scan doctor and nurse will give you detailed instructions on how to care for your wound to reduce scarring. 

Any procedure to remove a skin cancer will cause a scar and some people will scar more than others depending on their tendency towards keloid scarring and their skin type.  Scars tend to settle to a pale mark, either a oval area after curettage and cautery or as a line from excisional skin surgery.  If there is a lot of background sun damage, this pale area can become more prominent and noticeable.  Background sun damage can include solar keratosis, freckles, pigmentation, age spots and telangiectasias (dilated small vessels on the skin surface).  All of these lesions can be treated, either as individual lesions or as part of a field treatment such as efudix, PDT, lazer, IPL or skin peels. 

There are a variety of wound care regimes used after surgery.  Some areas are difficult to cover, and may be left without a dressing and the wound covered with antibiotic ointment.  This may include scalps, eyelids and beard areas.  Most wounds benefit from being covered because it can keep the area clean and help wick away any blood or fluid leaking from the wound. Our routine wound dressing involves application of antibiotic ointment, kaltostat (a dressing that reduces bleeding), then a protective dressing.  This can be left intact until removal of suture time in 7 days if kept clean and dry.  An ice pack or pressure dressing may be applied if necessary to reduce bleeding risk and protect the area.

Melanoma Scan - Skin Cancer Clinic

For further information, please feel free to Contact Us or follow the link to request an appointment by clicking Book Now.

Mole removal occurs it two ways, either a shave excision, which is very quick, or formal ellipse excision, which takes a little longer.  Shave excision is a technique that involves putting a small amount of local anaesthetic under the mole and then using either a straight or curved blade, which is passed through the skin directly under the mole, resulting in the mole being removed with a narrow margin of normal tissue under and around it.  Occasionally, if the mole is being removed for benign reasons (for example, it is raised and gets in the way of shaving and repeatedly traumatised) the doctor may remove the raised part of the mole and leave a small amount of mole tissue behind, in an effort to minimise any visible scar or depression left by the mole removal.  This procedure normally takes between two minutes and 5 minutes to do, using low sting local anaesthetic, which has the dual advantages of hurting less and giving almost immediate numbing to superficial lesions like a mole.  This type of mole removal can often be incorporated into a skin check or 15 minute procedure time.

Formal ellipse excision takes a little longer, because a larger area of skin needs to be numbed, and a formal excision setup needs to be done by the doctor or nurse. The mole needs to be removed as an ellipse of skin (boat shaped piece of skin removed) and the wound sutured, usually in two layers, closing both deep and superficial parts of the skin, minimising the risk of scar stretching and tram track marks being left behind from the sutures.  A typical mole removal using this technique takes about fifteen minutes to perform when assisted by a nurse, or 25 minutes without the assistance of a nurse. 

Is it a standard procedure time?

A shave excision can be done in a standard 15 minute appointment, however, an ellipse excision is usually booked into a 30 minute procedure appointment, so it depends on the technique that you have discussed with your doctor.

Melanoma Scan - Skin Cancer Clinic

For further information, please feel free to Contact Us or follow the link to request an appointment by Book Now.

The healing time is different for the two different types of mole removal and the location, and also the reason for the excision.  The healing time of a cosmetic mole removal on a face can be 7-10 days, during which there will be a scab form and then fall off as the skin heals up under the scab.  A deep shave excision for testing for possible melanoma is a much deeper and wider shave excision and depending on the location on the body, can take between 2 and 4 weeks to heal.  There can be a risk of infection on the lower leg with this technique (or any excision on the lower leg) due to poor immune function and blood supply on the lower leg, which can further delay healing.

Ellipse excision on the face takes 7 days to heal enough for sutures to be removed, and other parts of the body usually take between 7 and 14 days to heal to the point where sutures can be removed. However, this is only the early stage of healing, with deep sutures continuing to support the wound for the next 6 weeks until further strength has developed in the wound.  During this time, sporting activities, lifting, carrying, bending and squatting need to be avoided depending on the location of the wound, and the wound needs to be supported with taping with micropore tape or similar. Wound can be as little as at 10% of their eventual strength at day 7 without supportive deep sutures, and can reach 80% of their eventual strength at 3 months, hence the need to continue taping for an extended period and limit physical exertion, especially on the area affected by the surgery.

Melanoma Scan - Skin Cancer Clinic

For further information, please feel free to Contact Us or follow the link to request an appointment by clicking Book Now.

After a diagnosis of skin cancer the doctor will discuss treatment options, which may be as simple as a 5 minute procedure to perform curettage and cautery to the lesion, or a surgical procedure to formally excise the lesion with appropriate margins.  Most excisions are done as an elipse and suture ie the lesion is cut out as a boat shape of skin, and the edges brought together using a combination of deep dissolving and superficial sutures which are removed a week later.  Occasionally for more difficult or cosmetically sensitive areas, a flap or a graft may need to be used to maintain a normal appearance or function post skin cancer excision.  Sometimes radiotherapy or further testing may be needed for high risk lesions.

Radiotherapy is often used where there is an inoperable lesion or where surgery is not practical such as peri- neural invasion of cancer. High risk cases of melanoma may warrant testing with CT scans, PET scans, or sentinel lymph node biopsy. 

Your doctor will inform you about the nature of the cancer you have and if further testing and or treatment is necessary.

Melanoma is a less common form of skin cancer but can be one of the deadliest. Melanoma can form on any part of the body but most often forms on sun exposed areas such as the arms, legs and face.

Our three skin cancer clinics are located across the northside of Brisbane. Call us through 1300 754 000 or book online for your skin check.

Melanoma Scan Toombul

9 Parkland St
Nundah Qld 4012
07 3256 6766

BOOK NOW

Melanoma Scan Mitchelton

Unit 1,
23 Blackwood Street, 
Mitchelton 4053
07 3855 8500

BOOK NOW

Melanoma Scan Warner

1405 Old North Road, 
Warner 4500
07 3106 1340

BOOK NOW

Adjacent to Century 21 Real Estate and the Warner Plaza Shopping Centre

Skin cancers are managed with either destructive methods or excision.  Radiation therapy is use in limited circumstances for aggressive skin cancer or for treatment of skin cancers where surgery or curettage is inappropriate or not possible. 

Living in Australia you have a higher risk of skin damage as a result of increased exposure to the sun. Australians have a 2 in 3 chance of developing skin cancer in their lifetime. A simple yearly skin check can detect issues early and can save your life. Melanoma affects about 1 in 30 people in Australia and kills more than a 1000 people a year.

Sunspots, which are also called solar or actinic keratoses, are pink or tan coloured scaly spots that feel slightly rough to the touch. They occur commonly in people over 40 with light skin and hair/eyes and on skin that’s often exposed to the sun.  Most common areas are the face, tips of the ears, back of hands and forearms. 

Sunspots can be a warning sign that you’ve spent too much time in the sun without appropriate sun protection, and indicate that you have a higher risk of developing skin cancer in the future.

Squamous cell carcinoma can develop from solar keratosis.  If your sun spot feels thicker and slightly raised off the surface of the skin, it may be an indication that it has progressed from solar keratosis to intraepidermal squamous carcinoma (IEC) which is a superficial form of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). 

Solar keratosis is often treated with destructive treatments to individual lesions, such as cryotherapy (freezing treatment) or with a field treatment to the area.  Individual destructive treatments are usually used if there is a limited number of discrete spots to treat, and has the advantage of being cheap and quick.  Field treatments are usually used when there is a large area affected by large numbers of solar keratosis lesions or when the entire area is affected to some degree with solar keratosis and individual treatment is not practical.  Field treatments include Efudix, Photodynamic Therapy (PDT), Aldara, Solaraze or Picato.

Melanoma Scan - Skin Cancer Clinic

For further information, please feel free to Contact Us or follow the link to request an appointment by clicking Book Now.

Most children are at very low risk of skin cancers, so regular skin checks are not routinely recommended unless there are particular concerns.  While skin cancers including melanoma are rare, they do occur, so if there is a mole or spot that is changing or growing at an accelerated rate, or looks odd or different to every other mole on the child’s body, then they should be checked to ensure it is not a cancer.