Fieldays visitors saved money – and their bacon!

5 July 2018

At Fieldays this year you could not only save big (with generous discounts on offer) – but also save your bacon!

Fieldays visitors learnt that having suspicious skin spots checked is now as simple as snapping photos with your smartphone and sending them straight to a skin cancer expert for review. And doing so was a smart move for 10 Fieldays visitors, recent Fieldays results have shown.

Firstcheck was invited to join other health innovators in the ‘Health & Wellbeing Hub’ at Fieldays and to use its smartphone app to conduct free skin checks by sending photos of moles to skin specialist clinics around the country.

And making it easy to get a spot checked resonated with Fieldays attendees who seemed all too likely to put off getting a skin check, says Firstcheck’s founder, Hayden Laird.

“The number of times I heard someone say, ‘I’ve been meaning to get this checked for a while.” “And luckily they finally did - as we picked up 10 skin cancers.”

In fact, the very first spot checked on the first morning of Fieldays was identified as skin cancer.

Skin Institute, which has skin cancer clinics around New Zealand providing clinical dermatology services, sponsored the free skin checks donating their diagnostic expertise to report on the images.

Skin Institute has commenced using Firstcheck’s digital service and is exploring how best to complement its in-clinic services to help even more people get suspicious moles checked – and to help ensure skin cancers are detected early.

“It is truly life-saving that anyone can now tap into skin cancer experts like Skin Institute via their smartphone to have spots checked within 72 hours,” says Laird.

“Too few Kiwis are getting skin checks for all sorts of reasons. By making spot checks convenient and affordable, we are improving access to important health care services.”

“New Zealand’s skin cancer statistics are horrific and we’re delighted to help play a role and have skin cancer experts embrace this health technology to make a real difference.”

Two out of every three New Zealanders will be diagnosed with some form of skin cancer even before turning 70 years old - and in 2018 around 90,000 Kiwis will be diagnosed with skin cancer.

Developed in New Zealand, the Firstcheck app is free to download and skin specialists are charging just $19.95 for the review service.

“It was great to see Fieldays attendees embrace Firstcheck as a tool to check their spots and to tap into the expert knowledge of our local skin specialists,” says Laird.

“Making it easier to get a spot checked helps achieve early detection as there are less reasons to put off getting a suspicious mole or lesion checked that you have noticed.”

“Yes, early detection can save lives – it can also otherwise ensure that your treatment options are simpler and more affordable too.” Laird says

“And rather than having a nagging doubt a particular mole, peace of mind can now be just a click away.”

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