Updates
Hats off to the University of Heidelberg
Well maybe not hats off, we are a company that encourages people to be sun smart after all! So we shall leave our hats on and offer a round of applause instead. The University of Heidelberg has published a paper in the Annals of Oncology that demonstrates the...
16 Questions… A Lifesaver?
Is it possible for 16 simple questions to help save your life? Yes, it really is. QIMR Berghofer has released an online test that helps to identify whether you are at a high risk of developing melanoma within the next 3 and a half years. This is significant because...
AI Standards for Healthcare
Are we on the verge of releasing skynet on the world? Not even close, but a set of standards for the application of AI to healthcare is overdue. Would then stifle innovation or provide us with the landscape to deliver real value to the healthcare industry? That was...
The importance of knowing your own skin
Want to know the secret of surviving melanoma? It’s simply knowing your own skin. Why, because the most sensitive indicators of melanoma are either a changing mole OR one that looks different from all your other moles. So if you spend the time to get to know...
When To Worry About A Mole
What do moles look like? Moles can range in colour. They are generally medium to dark brown but can also be skin-coloured or black. The majority of moles are flat, relatively even in colour and regular in shape. Some moles are raised and these are usually soft to...
What you need to know about Melanoma, Vitamin D and UV exposure
The dangers and benefits of sun exposure are significant and complicated. On one hand sunshine includes ultraviolet light, or UV, which is able to penetrate the skin’s surface and interact with the melanocyte cells there. If this damage is not repaired by the body, it...
How To Tell A Melanoma From A Scary Mole
Telling whether an odd looking mole is a melanoma is a real challenge. In fact, the only sure way to know is with a biopsy. But, before you get them all cut out, there are signs and symptoms that can help you and your doctor to make the right decision. According to...
Ugly Ducklings Aren’t Just In Fairytales
When assessing the risk of a mole, we all know the traditional ABCDE’s (check out the American Academy of Dermatologists here if you don’t). Dermatologists bring an even greater level of sophistication when they assess a mole’s features. However, this is notoriously...
Why is melanoma so dangerous?
It's All About Depth. At Skin Analytics we put all our energy into catching melanoma early. But why? Because if a melanoma grow just a fraction of a millimetre too deep, its much harder to stop. Before we talk about why that is, lets get into some biology. Melanoma is...
To screen or not to screen, how do we save more from melanoma?
“There’s not enough evidence to weigh the benefits and harms of performing routine visual examinations to screen for skin cancer.” This is the conclusion from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in a recently concluded review of screening. But not everyone agrees...
Crowdfunding – A view from the trenches
It’s day 5 of our crowdfunding campaign and the tension in the office is palpable. As I write this, we have £169k pledged of our £450k round meaning we’re doing well. But I also know that success comes with momentum and our next goal is to get up to £225k within the...
Summer’s over – can I stop my skin checks?
Here in London we’ve noticed it getting a little chillier over the last couple of weeks. Winter coats are coming out and central heating is going on. But we also know summer’s over because our summer surge of site visits is starting to drop off. We always get a peak...
The best way to tackle melanoma?
Melanoma is one of the fastest growing cancers in the world and it disproportionately affects young people. Current global survival rates are up at around 75%. That’s good, but until it’s 100%, we need to do better. So where do we start? Melanoma, like any cancer, can...
Technology in service of your health
Recent advances in medical imaging enabled a large quantity of high quality data to be collected. However, most of that data goes unseen because of the data explosion problem and the time constraints. At the same time the ubiquity of smartphones and improvement in the...
Early diagnosis = better prognosis: Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK’s latest report sheds a stark light on the importance of early diagnosis. Across 8 common cancers, including melanoma, 10 year survival was up at 81% for those caught at stage 1 and 2 but fell sharply to 26% for those caught at stages 3 and 4....