Tests for skin cancer
If you have an abnormal area of skin that you think might be a cancer, you will need to go to your GP first of all. If your GP thinks you may have skin cancer, they will refer you to a specialist for them to look at it more closely.

There can be a wait of a number of weeks to see a specialist, such as a dermatologist (skin specialist). This can be quite unsettling if you are worried that you may have cancer. But the most common type of non melanoma skin cancer, basal cell cancer (BCC), takes years to develop for most people. Waiting a few weeks is unlikely to do any harm. If your GP thinks you may have squamous cell cancer (SCC) or a rare type of skin cancer they will make an urgent referral to a specialist and you should be seen within 2 weeks.

Some GPs are specially trained to remove some types of BCC, for example if they are small and in an area that is easy to remove. So you may not always need to be referred to see a specialist at the hospital.

Biopsies to test for skin cancer
It’s not always possible to tell the difference between skin cancer and non cancerous skin conditions. So the specialist may take a sample of the abnormal area and send it to the lab to be looked at under a microscope. This is called a biopsy. Usually you have this under a local anaesthetic.