Dr Cottee was a busy General Practitioner for twenty seven years before retiring from General Practice  in 2005. During his time as a GP, he was often performing minor surgical procedures for his patients.  His interest in surgical techniques resulted in him being involved in teaching minor surgical procedures to other GPs and younger Hospital doctors.  These teaching sessions were run in conjunction with Plastic Surgeons and Dermatologists and as a result Dr Cottee developed an interest in providing patients with skin procedures where the aim is to excel cosmetically. 

Dr Cottee was educated in Brisbane, Australia and during his undergraduate years, he was involved in skin cancer research. This stirred an ongoing interest that made it a natural transition  to manage skin cancers in his semi-retirement.  The advent of sophisticated dermoscopy equipment has made the diagnosis of skin cancers a science in its own right and has presented opportunities to diagnose and manage skin cancers at a much earlier stage than was possible in the past.  This ability to diagnose Melanoma as early as possible is at the forefront of the challenge to make a difference to Melanoma survival.  Dr Cottee belongs to the Skin Cancer Association of Australia and is an accredited skin cancer doctor (https://www.skincancercollege.org/locate-a-doctor/)     He is also a regular blog author where doctors throughout the world  share their ideas providing collegiality and a daily teaching environment for skin cancer doctors. Dr Cottee has been an affiliated provider for Southern Cross Healthcare since before 2008 and complies with all the auditing procedures to ensure that his practice is appropriate and of a high standard.  He also has student doctors spend time with him to help them learn the skills of dermoscopy.

For the 5 years prior to July 2017, Dr Cottee removed 2,263 lesions and the number of lesions that were tested for melanoma and then found to be melanoma was 6.34:1 .

 Dr Cottee consults  Monday to Wednesday 9am -4pm and Thursday  8.00am - 1pm.  The usual appointment time is 20 minutes to ensure that the skin examinations are complete and not rushed.  Please be aware that skin cancers can occur on skin that never sees the sun.  

Surgical procedures are performed in a dedicated operating theatre at the Town Basin Specialist Centre premises.