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A surgery involving cutting away thin layers of the skin to look for signs of — or to treat — skin cancer. This micrographic surgery has a high cure rate and minimizes damage to healthy skin.
What is it?
Mohs surgery is recognized as the most successful method for addressing typical non-melanoma skin cancers like basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma. This surgical procedure eliminates the cancerous cells while preserving healthy tissue, resulting in minimal scarring. After the cells and affected tissue layers are removed, a pathologist will conduct a detailed examination in a laboratory. Mohs surgery distinguishes itself from excisional surgery as it is performed in stages, with lab analyses conducted on-site.
Initially, Mohs surgery was developed for basal cell carcinoma (BCC) skin cancer. However, it’s since been adopted for other skin cancers such as squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).
Our surgeon will remove one layer of damaged tissue at a time until the lesion is completely removed. The procedure leaves as much healthy tissue as possible. For skin cancer removal, your Mohs surgeon will send each layer to our lab where it will be checked for malignant cells under a microscope. Mohs Surgery can take anywhere from 2-4 hours depending on the cancer.