Dr Anne

Dr Anne She also co-hosts The Medical Minute podcast. www.dranneconnell.com.au

Dr Anne Connell is a Melbourne-based GP with special interest in skin cancer and women's health (menopause; vulval conditions; Mirena and Implanon devices; shared maternity care).

24/02/2026

This gent first noticed this spot about 6 months ago. It was a scab that didn’t heal.
He had had a previous aggressive basal cell cancer lower down his face in 2018. If you rewatch the video, you’ll probably spot the old scar.

This scab is a worrying scab because it is starting to pucker the surrounding skin. Can you see the skin folds radiating out from the edge of the scab? This has been described as a ‘stellate’ pattern, and is a clue to infiltrative basal cell cancer. It has a reported specificity of 94% for infiltrative BCC 🤓.

The fact that more than 50% of the lesion surface is ulcerated (the scab or crust overlies an ulcer and is our clue to ulceration) is also a clue to aggression in a basal cell cancer.

For professional followers, it is important to take your biopsy from the ulcerated area as, if you only biopsy the intact periphery of the lesion, you may only see nodular basal cell cancer and so underestimate the clearance required by your definitive excision.

Want to see me? ➡️ Sherbourne Road Medical Clinic, Montmorency VIC 3094.
Email me at ask@dranneconnell.com.au if you need an urgent appointment.


22/02/2026

This lady likes to have her nails painted at all times, whereas I want to see them bare at the time of skin checks because melanoma can (rarely) present in the nails 🤔. She knows this because she is a regular patient.

Her workaround is to have her nail technician expressly check for dark lines before revarnishing her nails. Love it 😻.

This time, her tech noticed a dark spot that hadn’t been there before and so she hotfooted it in to see me.

Fortunately, on this occasion, it was just bleeding under the nail due to minor trauma.
But round of applause for her diligent workaround 👏👏👏.

Noting that the area of bruising may take many months to grow out of her toenail.
Can you see too where her acrylic nail had been sitting previously? They do damage nails 🫠.

Want to see me? ➡️ Sherbourne Road Medical Clinic, Montmorency VIC 3094.
Email me at ask@dranneconnell.com.au if you need an urgent appointment.

20/02/2026

If it’s pink, bleeding and on the nose, chances are it’s a basal cell cancer. This little spot bucked the trend and is a squamous cell cancer. Squamous cell cancers can bleed, and bleeding is often a sign of a more aggressive variant. Or more enthusiastic picking by the patient 🤭.

Want to see me? ➡️ Sherbourne Road Medical Clinic, Montmorency VIC 3094.
Email me at ask@dranneconnell.com.au if you need an urgent appointment.

17/02/2026

Did someone cast a furnunculus spell on this poor lady🧙‍♀️? That is one ugly spot 😆.

Most seborrhoeic keratoses hang out with some friends, but, just like human beings, some of them are not at all sociable. This one was hanging out on its own, and seemed to be thriving on the solitude!

In general, rapid growth of a skin lesion is worrying for malignancy, but this one looks like a sebK and was confirmed to be so by the pathologist. How big it would have grown left to its own devices is anyone’s guess 🤷🏻‍♀️

Want to see me? ➡️ Sherbourne Road Medical Clinic, Montmorency VIC 3094.
Email me at ask@dranneconnell.com.au if you need an urgent appointment.


🚨Dearest gentle reader (particularly those of the masculine persuasion),The ever-vigilant Therapeutic Goods Administrati...
16/02/2026

🚨Dearest gentle reader (particularly those of the masculine persuasion),

The ever-vigilant Therapeutic Goods Administration has issued an advisory regarding Natures Valley Collagen Builder.

Alas, this “collagen” supplement contains undeclared sildenafil — known to many as vi**ra — and at approximately twice the recommended maximum dose.

Such surprises may result not in vitality, but in dizziness, heart complications, sudden vision loss, painful prolonged erections, and dangerous (even life-threatening) interactions with nitrate heart medications.

The advice is simple:
DO NOT USE Natures Valley Collagen Builder.

No other similarly named products or manufacturers are known to be affected.

One must be cautious where one seeks enhancement.

Yours in good health,
Dr Anne 💌

15/02/2026

On the nose, we are more likely to see basal cell cancers than squamous cell cancers, though nothing is off the table. Like ears, noses are ‘high risk’ locations for skin cancer.

‘High risk’ doesn’t only mean that skin cancers are more likely to grow at these particular locations, but also that the cancers which do grow tend to be more aggressive (growing faster, spreading deeper and sometimes distantly) and are more likely to recur after treatment.

Protect your schnoz. You’ve only got one. And it’s nice to be able to breathe and to have somewhere to park your glasses.
Dress code is SPF.

Want to see me? ➡️ Sherbourne Road Medical Clinic, Montmorency VIC 3094.
Email me at ask@dranneconnell.com.au if you need an urgent appointment.


13/02/2026

I am often astounded to learn that many people have never even CONSIDERED sun-screening their ears. Ears are a high risk area for skin cancers, and get loads of sun exposure. Squamous cell cancers are especially common on the ears.

Even if you are a hat wearer, chances are you take your hat off quite frequently to mop your brow. And if your hat is actually a cap, it doesn’t protect your ears at all! Be safe. Be SunSmart.

Want to see me? ➡️ Sherbourne Road Medical Clinic, Montmorency VIC 3094.
Email me at ask@dranneconnell.com.au if you need an urgent appointment.


10/02/2026

I love my dermatoscope and the chance events that led to me training in dermoscopy and making skin cancer my special interest.

Some patterns we see under our dermatoscope yell a particular diagnosis and this is one of them. It’s a clear cell acanthoma - the prettier sister to a seborrhoeic keratosis.

Want to see me? ➡️ Sherbourne Road Medical Clinic, Montmorency VIC 3094.
Email me at ask@dranneconnell.com.au if you need an urgent appointment.


08/02/2026

Well to moderately differentiated invasive SCCs really are the fleabags of the skin cancer world. Whilst BCCs can be quite beautiful in their own way, SCCs are often plain old cruddy, mangy, dirty and scruffy 😆.

I guess ‘S’ can be for SCC too 😃.

Want to see me? ➡️ Sherbourne Road Medical Clinic, Montmorency VIC 3094.
Email me at ask@dranneconnell.com.au if you need an urgent appointment.


05/02/2026

Benign skin lesions are usually quite sociable. If you have one freckle, chances are there will be others around it. Same for fleshy moles, barnacles of wisdom (seborrhoeic keratoses) and molluscum lesions. They all hang out with their buddies. If a spot is sitting there all on its lonesome, we give it a good look over 👀.

The features of early squamous cell cancer are
very similar to psoriasis under our dermatoscope (both have scale and coiled vessels), but most people will have more than one patch of psoriasis. For those in advanced class , the coiled vessels in psoriasis are usually uniformly sized and the scale tends to be white, versus variably sized vessels and often yellow scale in SCCIS.

This lady was happy to proceed to treatment without prior biopsy since the features were so typical of early squamous cell cancer, and chose curettage and cautery. Which is a skin-sparing ‘scrape and burn’ technique with excellent clearance rates.

Want to see me? ➡️ Sherbourne Road Medical Clinic, Montmorency VIC 3094.
Email me at ask@dranneconnell.com.au if you need an urgent appointment.


Holidays planned? How exciting! Littlies between 6 and 11 months can now have a funded measles shot before they head ove...
03/02/2026

Holidays planned? How exciting! Littlies between 6 and 11 months can now have a funded measles shot before they head overseas.
💉✈️🌏
Jab before you journey.

02/02/2026

Keratin horns are fascinating growths. Whilst it would seem that there was never evolutionary advantage to us growing rhinoceros-type horns, our skin nonetheless has the capability.
Maybe all those little girls who want to be unicorn princesses are not wishing for the completely impossible.

This gent had a tender keratin horn on the top of his ear. Horns most commonly arise from benign lesions such as seborrhoeic keratoses (‘wisdom barnacles’), but can be produced by skin cancers especially squamous cell cancers.
If the horn is tender or has a pink base or is wider than it is tall, the likelihood of cancer is increased. Cancer is also more likely in blokes and in older people. (✅✅✅✅✅ 😬). This chap also had had multiple previous squamous cell cancers 🫠.

Fortunately this proved to be an actinic keratosis - a precursor for squamous cell cancer - rather than an invasive cancer. We will field treat his ear with efudix in the cooler months. He is also taking vitamin B3.

Want to see me? ➡️ Sherbourne Road Medical Clinic, Montmorency VIC 3094.
Email me at ask@dranneconnell.com.au if you need an urgent appointment.


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Dr Anne

Dr Anne Connell is an Australian GP with special interests both in skin cancer and in women’s health.

Originally from Scotland, she relocated to Melbourne in 2008 and holds Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. Whilst enjoying the breadth of family medicine practice, her areas of particular expertise are skin cancer and women’s health.

She has trained for several years in skin cancer diagnosis and management, culminating in a Masters Degree in Skin Cancer Medicine from the University of Queensland. She holds additional certification in dermatoscopy (surface microscopy of the skin), primary care skin cancer management and skin cancer surgery. She holds the coveted ‘Accredited Skin Cancer Doctor’ status with Skin Cancer College Australasia (SCCA) and now spends about 50% of her time providing skin cancer services. Skin cancer services are provided both in partnership with Dr Mostafa Khalafalla (Dr Moz) as Aussie SkinDocs (a predominantly mobile skin cancer service to Melbourne’s Eastern suburbs) and at her fixed general practice locations in Diamond Creek and Mt Evelyn.

She is a shared maternity care affiliate at The Mercy Hospital for Women in Heidelberg, Victoria, providing shared maternity care predominantly at her Diamond Creek location. This service also is provided in conjunction with Dr Moz.