General Information

What to Expect When Having Mohs Surgery

What is Mohs Surgery?

Mohs surgery is a highly specialized treatment for the total removal of skin cancer. It is named in honor of Frederic Mohs, the physician who developed the technique. Mohs surgery eliminates the guesswork used with other methods of treating skin cancer. Other methods require the surgeon to estimate how wide or deep the roots of skin cancer have grown. Mohs surgery differs by the use of complete microscopic examination of all tissues removed. This allows the Mohs surgeon to completely remove the skin cancer cells while preserving surrounding benign skin.

What are the advantages of Mohs surgery?

By using detailed mapping techniques and complete microscopic control, the Mohs surgeon can pinpoint areas involved with cancer that are otherwise invisible to the naked eye. Therefore, even the smallest microscopic roots of cancer can be removed. The result is the removal of as little normal skin as possible AND the highest possibility for curing the cancer. Using Mohs surgery, the percentage of cure is more than 99% for most skin cancers, even when other forms of treatment have failed. Other methods of treatment offer only a 50% chance of success if previous treatments have failed. In addition, other methods of surgery require that a larger piece of skin be removed or destroyed in order to treat the cancer. This results in far more noticeable and larger scars.

WE SPECIALIZE IN
MOHS SURGERY

Mohs surgery is a highly technical treatment for the total removal of skin cancer. We want you to feel comfortable, informed, and confident when you come to see us. See patient resources to familiarize yourself.