Basic Skin Lesion Recognition without Dermoscopy – For GPs & AHPs

About this video

Duration: 1h 21m (Recorded February 2026)

Designed for GPs and Allied Health Professionals, this session is delivered by Associate specialist in Dermatology, Dr Stephen Hayes, who brings over two decades of hands-on dermatology expertise to his teaching.

Skin cancer, and the fear of skin cancer, has been steadily increasing world wide in predominantly white populations for at least half a century. Melanoma and other primary cutaneous malignancies kill around 3,000 people a year in Britain, more than road traffic accidents, cervical cancer and meningitis combined, so it’s an important public health matter calling for an active response. GPs are asked to review patients’ moles and other skin lesions daily, despite having had little training in lesion diagnostics. Fear of missing a melanoma leads to excess referrals and thousands of obviously benign lesions are referred on the urgent skin cancer pathway annually.

This session will discuss the natural history of common and important skin lesions, key factors in the history, inspection and palpation and also red flag warning signs that will help the working GP make safe and efficient decisions in the surgery. The session will assume no prior knowledge, look at basic principles and consider each lesion type with dozens of examples to showcase the range of lesion appearances, with particular emphasis on how to confidently reassure the patient with a harmless skin lesion without missing a melanoma.

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