Two in three Queenslanders. One thirty-minute check.
Around two thirds of Australians will be diagnosed with a skin cancer by the age of 70, and Queensland has the highest rate on earth. A full-body check here takes thirty minutes, every lesion of concern is photographed and measured, and anything that needs removing is removed in this building.
30 min
Operating from the same Sandgate Rd rooms.
Every full-body check, with dermoscopy throughout.
Average wait from excision to pathology result.
Full skin checks performed since we opened.
typical load time
Thirty minutes, head to feet, photographed
A skin check that takes eight minutes and does not include a dermatoscope is not a skin check. Every lesion of concern is examined under polarised magnification, photographed, measured and stored against your record.
That archive is the whole point. At your next check we are comparing this mole to a photograph of the same mole, not to a memory of it.
What thirty minutes covers
Dermoscopy on every lesion
Polarised magnification, not a naked-eye glance. It is the difference between guessing and assessing.
Photographic mapping
Anything of concern is photographed and measured against your record for next time.
Scalp, soles and between toes
Melanoma turns up in places the sun barely reaches. We look anyway.
Nails and nail beds
Subungual melanoma is missed constantly because polish was left on. Please arrive without it.
A written outcome
What was found, what is being watched, and when to come back — before you leave the room.
A letter to your GP
Sent the same day, so your regular doctor has the findings on file.
Check your own skin with this
A — Asymmetry
One half does not match the other.
B — Border
Edges are ragged, notched or blurred.
C — Colour
More than one shade, or an unusual one.
D — Diameter
Larger than 6mm, or growing.
E — Evolving
Changing in any way, at any speed.
Add a sixth: anything that bleeds, itches, scabs and will not heal within a month. Squamous cell and basal cell cancers rarely look like the textbook photographs, and a sore that keeps coming back in the same spot is worth thirty minutes of your time.
Removed here, not referred on
Our doctors hold skin cancer medicine qualifications and perform their own surgery, including flaps and grafts. You are referred to a plastic surgeon or an oncologist when the case genuinely warrants one.
Every procedure done here
Six of the seven treatments on this site — the full list, with cost and time, is on the Treatments page.
- Biopsy. Diagnostic. Confirms what a lesion is under local anaesthetic. 15 min appointment.
- Excision with margins. Surgical. Complete removal with the clearance margin the lesion type requires. 30–45 min.
- Flap & graft repair. Surgical. For sites where the skin cannot simply be pulled together — nose, ear, lower leg. 60–90 min.
- Cryotherapy. Non-surgical. Liquid nitrogen for sunspots and superficial lesions, done on the spot. Same appointment.
- Topical field therapy. Field treatment. A prescription cream for areas of widespread sun damage rather than treating spots one by one. Prescribed, done at home.
- Post-diagnosis surveillance. Ongoing. Structured follow-up after any skin cancer. Bulk billed permanently after a melanoma. 3–6 monthly.
How fast things happen here
Waiting is the worst part of a skin cancer diagnosis, and most of that wait is administrative rather than clinical. These are the intervals we hold ourselves to, measured over the last financial year.
Our doctors
“Skin cancer doctor” is not a protected title in Australia, which is why full qualifications are listed rather than summarised as a special interest.
Dr Elise Vandermeer
MBBS · FRACGP · MMed (Skin Cancer)
Dr Samir Chaudhry
MBBS · FRACGP · Adv Cert Dermatological Surgery
Kate Lonsdale
Registered Nurse · wound management
What people ask
The things people ask before they book.
Do I need a referral?
No. You can book a skin check directly and Medicare rebates it as a standard consultation. A GP referral is not required, and you do not need to see your GP first to be assessed here.
Is a skin clinic as good as a dermatologist?
For skin cancer detection and excision, a doctor with post-graduate skin cancer qualifications doing thirty-minute dermoscopy checks every day is doing focused, frequent work in exactly this area — and available in a fortnight rather than six months. A dermatologist is a specialist physician and the right person for complex inflammatory skin disease, unexplained rashes, and melanomas needing staging. We refer to them when that is what you need.
Does every mole need to come off?
No, and a clinic that excises everything is doing you harm as well as taking your money. Most lesions are photographed, measured and monitored. The photographic archive is exactly what allows us to watch something confidently instead of cutting it out to be sure.
How long until I get the pathology result?
Three days on average. You will be told the result by phone, and if anything needs further treatment you leave that call with the appointment already made — we hold excision slots for exactly this.
Will the scar be bad?
Any excision leaves a scar, and anyone promising otherwise is misleading you. Size and position depend on the lesion type and the margin required, and we will show you roughly what to expect before you consent. On the face and lower legs, Dr Chaudhry uses flap or graft techniques specifically to improve the cosmetic result.
Spot checks held open every weekday
If a specific spot has changed, say so when you ring and we will prioritise you. Full checks are usually available within a fortnight.