Tweed Valley Weekly Locals Supporting Locals
Thursday September 15, 2016
Living Life To The Full
Local News 23
your
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. Mark Twain Advertisement
Beware of cowboy skin doctors on the South Coast
IN THE past ten years there have been a number of rogue skin clinics outlawed that had abused medicare and also a form light treatment called photodynamic therapy or PDT, mostly for a quick buck. More recently some of these clinics have risen again with the same dubious practices. Dr Glen Parker, Principal Doctor at the Tweed Skin Cancer Clinic has seen a number of patients who have been to these clinics and come for a second opinion. Most patients that I have seen who have attended these clinics were only given one option upfront for treatment for their spots, which is photodynamic therapy or PDT. They were not given other mainstay first line treatment options such as cryotherapy or creams, so essentially they were forced into having a very expensive treatment. PDT was introduced ten years ago but went out of favour due to the side effects and loss of pigment that occurred when used over large areas. PDT treatment was also hijacked by rogue clinics as a money maker to boost their income even if it wasnt the best treatment for patients at the time. I have
seen patients develop more skin cancer in areas where they have had PDT due to the loss of pigment it caused. Any treatment that causes loss of pigment can increase this risk, and in this high UV climate this is quite dangerous. Some of these patients have come in sun burned after they were told to apply the PDT cream and go out in the sun for 2 hours. Even after reapplying sunscreen the reality is that there is still a risk of sun burn if you are having direct sun exposure for that long. I am shocked at some of the recommendations that have been made at these clinics. Some patients have been told that they will cut out their skin cancer in the clinic, then send them home with an open wound only to return in a few days to have it sewn up. This was planned for one such female in her 50s who had a severe recurrent aggressive form of basal cell carcinoma on her ear. She already had surgery on this before and it was significantly smaller than her other ear, if she had done this she would have lost her ear. She has since had a course of radiation. One elderly female was informed that she had to have her face cut from her left cheek right through her lip and it would leave a severe scar, and if she didn’t it would “go to your brain and kill you”, that was what the Doctor had told her. I performed another biopsy on the same area and there was no skin cancer there at all. These patients also told me that the Doctor had called them and tried to bully them to come back in after they had not returned, and they were also told that because the doctor had found the skin cancer they were
legally the only ones who were allowed to treat it. This is not true. Many patients I have seen for a second opinion have had skin cancers and melanomas missed at these clinics. They told me that they were only interested in their sales pitch for PDT rather than checking them thoroughly. I have found melanomas in areas where they gave them PDT which they had obviously missed, which is very concerning. This can mask the appearance of the melanoma making it even more difficult to find. One such female in her 50s had a rare pink melanoma that had been totally missed, and PDT given on the area. Luckily we found it and she has had to have graft surgery. These clinics also advertise that the Doctors who work there have done various GP skin cancer certificates. Patients should be aware that this is no guarantee that they are seeing an expert with the correct surgical training and many years of experience required to find and treat skin cancer and melanoma correctly. This work is not simply a matter of jumping in and having a go, using trial and error with patients as your guinea pigs. This is a highly skilled field of medicine. In twenty years of practising and training other Doctors, I have seen very few who develop the high level of skill to be able to find all skin cancers and melanomas and properly treat them every time. I have seen patients come in from every skin clinic that has come and gone in this area and there are many bad stories, whether they had things removed that shouldnt have
been, or skin cancers missed, or surgery gone wrong, or they didn’t get it all and left it, or they werent referred on. Those are that risks you take with inexperience. This is an art form and not everyone is an artist. Patients in general may be quite confused or in the dark about what is best to treat their sun spots and sun damage. In my 20 years experience I can offer the following overview. Any non surgical treatment medical or natural, cryotherapy or cream or light, is essentially causing a burning or reaction in the skin which invariably causes some degree of loss of pigment. Loss of pigment in this high UV climate is quite dangerous and can lead to further sun damage and more skin cancer. In my clinics I have tried all forms of treatment over the years, but the one I use mostly with consistent success is cryosculpture. This is a totally different technique and instrument to the regular “freezing” done by your GP. This technique is not that painful or invasive, is used quite shallowly, it doesnt remove pigment from your skin leaving white spots or halo scars on your face, and the downtime is only 5 days. If you stay with your regular check ups, over time your skin tone will even out, your skin health will be better and more robust, as long as you are using sunscreen as your daily moisturiser in between. You will also get much less sun spots and skin cancers. This is the purpose of regular skin checks, not to become more spotty and scarred with each visit. Cryosculpture is a form of artistic sculpture, hence the name. It is not used widely in this Country, more so in the USA.
Tweed Skin Cancer Clinic All Services Bulk Billed
Excellence in Skin Cancer and Melanoma Diagnosis and Treatment
•Female Doctor Available •Open Saturdays •No Referral Necessary •Long Established Clinic
73602
Tweed Day Surgery and Specialist Centre SUITE 6, 38-44 BOYD ST TWEED HEADS
07 5536 4961
73904
EARLY DETECTION MAY SAVE LIVES