Medical News

Summer is over but you still need to take steps to prevent sunburn and skincancers. Protect yours and your children’s skin with hats, clothing and effective UV protective creams. Do have a good look at your own and your loved ones skin from time to time . Melanomas can occur at any age and are the ones we dread the most

Basal cell and squamous cell cancers are far more common  and are almost entirely seen in the older age groups.

Solar keratosis is what we see most commonly , these can be treated with creams if extensive or liquid nitrogen (cryo-therapy, freezing).

Any moles or other skin changes that do not look right to you and esp. if they have changed colour , are growing , itchy or ulcerating please come and see us for an thorough examination. You probably dont need an expensive mole map. We have the expertise and the equipment to check those lesions. And we can treat them too , either creams, liquid nitrogen or excision. Dr Bjornholdt can remove most skin cancers including those on the face.

March marks the start of Autmn and although it is still warm we are starting to see more common colds in the surgery.  Fortunately at the time of writing this we have not seen any cases of Influenza as yet but as the weather gets colder we can expect that dreaded illness to appear soon.

Influenza is serious and can and will kill people in New Zealand this year as well. Most unvaccinated people who get the flu will not die as their immune system will be able to fight the virus , however they will get seriouly ill and bedridden for the best part of a week. Remember a flu is not the same as a cold. One illustration to help distuinguish between the two conditions is : If you see a $100 bill in the yard outside your bedroom window , you will get  out of bed and retrieve it if you have a cold , if you have a flu you won’t.

There is no treatment for either the cold or the flu as they are both caused by viruses. Occassionally we may prescribe antibiotics for complications like pneumonia or prophylactically in the very frail or elderly patients.

We urge you to get your shots as early as possible , please book in  for it. It is painless and free for everybody over 65 and with chronic illnesses .It is also very effective. 

People over 50 may consider getting a vaccination against shingles as well . 

We have  installed  “Manage My Health” . In brief this is a system that allows all patients of the practice to log into their notes on our computer system. You can check you notes , prescriptions , lab results and also x-rays etc . You can even book your doctor’s appointment.

For more details and help to log in etc you will need to come to the surgery , it cannot be done over the phone.