molemapping - anyone done it/ is it worth the money?

[glitterati]

seen those clinics where you shell out to be mapped - sounds good but I'm worried it's a waste of money

I have a friend who gets this done - he has a lot of moles, and can't keep track himself. I have another friend whose dh sees a dermatologist who does it for him - he's had a skin cancer scare, and its worth it for him.

I suppose it depends on what your risks are, and how much peace of mind you'd get from it?

Elibean, does your friend's dh get it done on the NHS if he's had skin cancer already, please?

And how much do you have to shell out to have it done privately?

right my GP has suggested this.

Get someone to take pictures of your moles with a good quality digital (high pixels thingy) camera. i have a lot on my back so this will be DH job.

zoom in for as much detail as possible, make notes on each picture of where each mole is.

redo again every so often.

apparently with a good digital camera, changes will be noticable if done this way.

I've read about people doing this, and have thought about doing it with dh. Shades of grim paranoia, and the temptation to not get round to doing it; but can see we ought.

If someone has had skin cancer, though, and is really upset about the possibility of recurrence, I think it should be done in a clinic, where a medic can take responsibility for noticing changes.

Thanks, though, LVOC. Check on me in a year, and see if I'm doing it yet...

MC, my friend didnt' have skin cancer - just a biopsy in case it was. But it scared him, and he's in his early sixties, with lots of sun damage, so he's seeing a private dermatologist. I'm sorry, I do'nt know how much it cost - but would think a couple of hundred??

elibean, i have had a scare as well, waiting on results.