Mohs Surgery Specialist

What is Mohs Surgery?

Mohs Micrographic Surgery is a technique used for removal of cancerous skin cells. The technique was created by Dr. Frederick Mohs in the 1930’s and has come to be known as the most effective treatment for Basal Cell and Squamous Cell Carcinomas. This surgical technique has become widely used because it has the unique ability to remove cancerous skin cells while preserving the largest amount of healthy tissue possible and it has extremely high cure rates at 98% or greater.

How does Mohs Surgery Work?

Mohs Surgery is performed by excising thin layers of affected tissue and testing each layer under the microscope to see if the margins of skin cells contain any cancerous cells. If so, the surgery continues and the process is repeated until the margins reveal zero cancerous skin cells. While this procedure can be time consuming, this technique eliminates the issue of excising large amounts of tissue in an effort to remove all of the cancerous mass. Removing large amounts of tissue can cause extensive scarring and can take a prolonged period of time to heal, with Mohs Surgery the amount of excised tissue is commonly reduced and the scarring as well as healing time can be kept to a minimum.

What about Treating Melanomas?

Mohs Surgery has been refined and surgeons are now able to perform the procedure on those diagnosed with certain melanomas. In the past, there was concern about the surgeon’s ability to see the melanoma cells under the microscope. Now, Mohs surgeons are using specially designed stains which enable them to view the highlighted melanoma cells more clearly. These recent developments have allowed surgeons to use the technique on more types of melanomas and Mohs Surgery will certainly play a large role in the future of skin cancer treatment.