SKIN cancer patients in Huddersfield are set to have their treatment transformed, thanks to a new machine at the Royal Infirmary.

The state-of-the-art Aktilite machine will be used for patients in Huddersfield and Calderdale with sun- damaged skin or superficial skin cancers.

The £5,000 machine uses a combination of photsensitising cream and a bright red light to destroy various skin lesions.

In the past the cream had to be applied to the affected area four to six hours before treatment and the treatment lasted 17 minutes.

Betty Mulholland, staff nurse for dermatology outpatients, who leads the treatment, said some patients had found it uncomfortable and 17 minutes seemed a long time for treatment.

She added: "The machine effectively halves the time that patients have to spend under the machine.

"The cream is applied to the skin three hours before and treatment time is cut to 10 minutes."

She said many patients preferred this form of treatment as it was performed in outpatients departments and the mark it left was more cosmetically acceptable.

The machine was bought with cash from the independent Huddersfield Medical Trust Fund charity after an application by consultant dermatologist Janet Holder.