How often will I need to follow up with my doctor after being treated for skin cancer?

How often will I need to follow up with my doctor after being treated for skin cancer?

The rule of thumb in my office is that once someone's had a skin cancer, I generally see them anywhere from every 4 to every 6 months for a cutaneous exam to see if whether or not other skin cancer lesions have occurred. Malignant melanoma needs follow up both at the dermatologist, and if invasive with high risk, this type of skin cancer requires follow up at their oncologist as well, but the dermatologist visit is to look for new, separate melanomas. Again, the chance of a patient with a malignant melanoma developing a second unrelated malignant melanoma is 20 times greater than a patient developing their first one, and so in follow-up sessions we do complete skin exams both looking at the cancerous lesion that has now been removed as well as all the other cancerous lesions on the skin.