Skin cancers are the commonest cancers treated worldwide. The primary cause of all skin cancers is sun damage. There are sometimes genetic factors that predispose a person to get skin cancers, these are however rare.

Being aware of the dangers of sun exposure, particularly in this day and age and more specifically in our area, is important to prevent these cancers from resulting in large deforming surgeries.

At George Plastic Surgery, I work closely with Drs Hein van Rensburg (www.drvanrensburg.co.za) and Willem Fouche, two experienced dermatologists, in providing a full skin cancer surveillance, detection and treatment service right here in George.

I specialise in the treatment of head, face, neck and scalp cancers with excisions that are immediately confirmed by experienced skin pathologists with a technique known as frozen section pathology. This means that within an hour your cancer has been removed and the reconstruction complete, usually under conscious sedation and local anaesthesia. No waiting for hours to determine whether cancer has been removed, being transferred to the ward and then back to theatre for the reconstruction.

Should further investigations such as sentinel lymph node biopsies be required in the case of melanoma surgery, this is also done at the same sitting.

For a comprehensive, one-stop and cost-effective approach to treating skin cancers, you are covered at George Plastic Surgery.

For those patients from out of town, a biopsy is usually taken by your referring doctor or specialist. Thereafter, a telephonic consultation can take place and surgery performed on the same visit. This means fewer trips to and from our offices for those that live far away.

Drs van Rensburg and Fouche do monthly clinics in Mossel Bay, Oudtshoorn and Riversdal therefore follow-up visits are made more convenient.

Results are shared and a plan of treatment is instituted by Dr Patel with all the other relevant doctors, including those that referred you.