November 5th, 2022New facilities aim to nip skin cancers in the bud

New Surgical Facilities Set to Reduce Waiting Times for Victorian Skin Cancer Patients

Victorians living with skin cancer are set to benefit from the launch of new dedicated surgical facilities capable of treating thousands of patients around the state each year.

The first of the new skin cancer surgical centres will open in November in Melbourne, with more planned for other areas across Victoria over the coming year.

The move is expected to increase specialised skin cancer surgical capacity within the Victorian healthcare sector as well as reducing the time between diagnosis and treatment for newly diagnosed patients – including those in rural areas.

Australia has the world’s highest rates of melanoma with 16,878 new cases and over 1,300 Australians dying from this form of cancer every year – including around 270 in Victoria. The national cost of treating skin cancer is over $272 million annually.

Australasia’s largest skin cancer detection service, MoleMap, will launch new surgical facilities in their national network of clinics to address this gap, which will see thousands of patients with cancerous skin lesions provided with immediate surgical treatment, following their diagnosis.

Dr Franz Strydom from MoleMap, says melanoma can be cured in 98% of cases if diagnosed early. 

He says when diagnosed at a later stage, melanoma becomes more difficult and expensive to treat with a greater chance of treatment failure.