An influx of new skin cancer diagnoses – post-pandemic influx? 

Experts feared a post-pandemic skin cancer crisis in Australia when COVID lockdowns in 2021 triggered a 12-year low in the number of patients seeking treatment at Australia’s world-leading melanoma institute.

The expert’s fears were confirmed by the official figures, which show patient numbers fell 18 per cent in 2020 and are likely to be 20 per cent down this year compared to 2019.

The plunge has triggered fears that people may have been deterred from seeking potentially life-saving medical procedures.

The trend to avoid seeking medical advice is also seen in other cancers and medical illnesses.

As a result of the risk of COVID-19 contagion, breast screening services were suspended from March 25th until early May 2020, with 74,000 fewer screening mammograms performed than in the same period in 2018.

Overdue elective surgeries are set to triple after the COVID-19 pandemic backlog. The surgery backlog has increased after non-urgent procedures were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Melanoma Institute Australia co-medical director Professor Richard Scolyer said,

“We don’t think this drop in new patients means fewer Australians actually have melanoma, it just means that COVID has delayed them seeking medical advice and being diagnosed.”

“That delay in diagnosis and treatment can be the difference between life and death.”

“If caught early, 90 per cent of melanomas can be cured with surgery alone, but if left undetected, melanoma can quickly spread to organs including the lungs, liver and brain,” she said.

“We have very real concerns that the coming year will see an influx of melanoma patients being diagnosed with more advanced-stage disease, which means a poorer prognosis.”

At Eastwood Skin Cancer Clinic, we diagnosed three melanomas in February and March of 2022 from local residents. We have also diagnosed numerous basal and squamous cell carcinomas in patients who haven’t been back for a skin check for 2 years due to the pandemic lockdown. The number of newly diagnosed melanomas and other skin cancers is much higher than usual. Perhaps, we are experiencing the “post-pandemic influx” of melanomas as foreshadowed by Professor Richard Sclyer.

Dr Peter Kim 
Eastwood Skin Cancer Clinic