Skin checks

Abstract

Background Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world. Current clinical guidelines do not recommend systematic skin cancer screening. However, in clinical practice many general practitioners do provide skin checks for their patients. Objective This article discusses the rationale for skin checks, provides a suggested approach to performing skin checks and outlines the role of dermatoscopy and medical photography. A summary of the 10 most common benign lesions encountered during skin checks is also discussed and tips to help interpret pathology reports are provided. Discussion The high prevalence of skin cancer among Australia's population, together with 30 years of publi..