AN INTERNATIONAL medical conference will be held at Winchester Guildhall on June 12-13, with seven top world experts in the early diagnosis of skin cancer.

Professors from Austria, Italy, France, Turkey, Brazil, Poland and Australia will be teaching. The conference has already attracted bookings from over 150 consultants, GPs, nurses and podiatrists from around the UK and overseas, including Holland, Sweden, Germany, France, Romania and Ireland.

Course organiser, Southampton NHS doctor Stephen Hayes, is a board member of the International Dermoscopy Society, a world-wide group which promotes dermoscopy, using hand-held skin microscopes to diagnose skin lesions.

Dr Hayes said: “I have seen how effective this technique is for reassuring people who are worried about a funny looking but harmless mole, and picking up very early skin cancers before they can spread.”

Melanoma skin cancer kills around 2,500 people a year in Britain, and is more common in the south and south west. It is on the increase, but is cured if caught early.

One of the guest speakers is Professor Cliff Rosendahl from Brisbane. He will show delegates how early melanomas are detected and cured by skilled GPs in Australia. Other eminent guests include Professor Giuseppe Argenziano from Naples and Professor Harald Kittler from Vienna. Further details are available on www.dermoscopy.wordpress.com.