Melanoma surveillance and detection health centers have a major function in the early diagnosis of melanoma in patients, who are at a higher risk of getting a spiteful lesion.

James Grichnik, M. D., Ph. D., F. A. A. D., Professor of Dermatology and Cutaneous surgery and Director of the Melanoma Program at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, says that most of the major dermatology departments, mainly within training hospices, do have courses, or at least persons, who observe high-risk patients.

He said that the aim of the health centers is to discover melanomas in advance. They use dermoscopy for a closer medical observation, confocal microscopy to notice cellular detail, and total body pictures to recognize variation. If they locate the tumors early on, they treat most of them.

According to Dr. Grichnik, melanoma surveillance and detection centers serve an important role in complete melanoma programs, which also comprise dermatopathology, medical oncology, surgical oncology and radiation oncology.

He says, “With the melanoma program, we can handle patients across the spectrum from infants to elderly and from benign moles to aggressive metastatic disease”.

Presently, the use of technologies like dermoscopy and confocal microscopy are not paid techniques in the U. S., so there is little monetary incentive to make use of them.

He says that doctors are employing them since it is the correct thing to do.