What to expect during your doctor lead digital skin screening

Before your doctor lead digital skin screening

There are a few things you can do to make the most of your doctor lead digital skin screening.  If you have thick hair, ask the hair dresser to tell you if there are any lumps or marks on your scalp and take a note of these. The dermatologist will routinely examine the areas the areas on your scalp with less hair or at the parting but will only specifically search for lesions if we know there are some.  Please do not wear make-up or nail varnish to the appointment. The genital area is not routinely examined but if you self -check and there is a lesion of concern, then let the clinic know in advance so that we may arrange a chaperone in order to examine this area.

What to expect on the day of your doctor lead digital skin screening...

You will be welcomed into the clinic via the  main reception.  You will be asked to fill in your details including your medical history.  For the examination you will be required to undress down to your underwear and you will be given a gown to wear.  If this is your first appointment with us for a doctor lead digital skin screening with mole mapping, then you will have bodyshot images taken.  This is to allow the technology to accurately record the location of each lesion on your body.  Unlike other skin check centres, where nurses or GP’s do the imaging,  at Encore your skin check will be carried out by a dermatologist.  Following this each lesion will be viewed using the Mediacam.  This leading edge technology gives incredible detail which you will also be able to see on the screen.  It will store every lesion onto your digital record including all the measurements and patterns of each lesion. 

The doctor will discuss the findings with you and will arrange and prescribe medical treatment of any precancerous skin lesions, and surgical excision if any are suspicious of invasive skin cancer. 

If you have had a previous invasive melanoma or squamous cell cancer, you will have lymph nodes examined in the neck, under the arms and groin.

You will then have  the option to obtain a printed report with images for any lesions for monitoring so that you are able to compare the image taken on the day of skin check for any future change. 

After the doctor lead digital skin screening...

If you are concerned about any lesion within the first 6 months, you can return for examination and imaging of this lesion.  The ‘ghost’ function on Fotofinder will lay the current image over the previous image and will detect even the most subtle change not  visible with a hand-held dermatoscope. We also have Artificial Intelligence grading for risk of malignancy in a lesion.