Mohs Surgery Specialist

What is Mohs surgery?

Mohs surgery is one of several surgical options to treat certain types of skin cancer and perhaps the most revolutionary and beneficial. Unlike other choices, Mohs surgery removes your skin cancer while removing as few healthy nearby or underlying skin cells as possible. 

Since its development in the 1930s, Mohs surgery has proven itself with a very high cure rate and great aesthetic results regardless of the location of the cancerous skin lesion. It’s minimally invasive, and you won’t need general anesthesia. 

What does Mohs surgery treat?

Mohs surgery is not the right treatment for every case of skin cancer. There are numerous types, some of which are more aggressive or fast-spreading than others. Mohs surgery can treat:

Squamous cell carcinoma

Squamous cell carcinoma is a form of cancer affecting the flat-looking skin cells at the surface. Too much sun exposure or ultraviolet (UV) light from tanning beds causes changes within the DNA of these cells, causing their uncontrolled growth. 

Basal cell carcinoma

Basal cells move upward from the lower part of the epidermis toward your skin’s surface and eventually turn into squamous cells. They can also develop cancer because of UV light exposure. These types are unlikely to spread to other parts of your body, so removing them with Mohs surgery and similar methods removes the cancer in its entirety. 

In rare cases, Mohs surgery at Daphne Panagotacos, M.D., Inc., can treat melanoma and other, even rarer forms of skin cancer. It’s usually the first choice for recurrent cases of skin cancer. 

How does Mohs surgery work?

When you come in for Mohs surgery at Daphne Panagotacos, M.D., Inc., one of the first steps is a local anesthesia injection to numb the lesion and the skin around it.

Mohs surgery involves a repeated process during which your dermatologist slices a thin tissue specimen from the cancerous lesion, examines the specimen under a microscope, and looks for areas where there are still cancer cells instead of other areas where there are healthy cells. They can use these findings to mark and remove the next specimen. 

Your dermatologist at Daphne Panagotacos, M.D., Inc., repeats the process until all cancerous skin cells are no longer on your skin. Depending on the size of the tumor, they might also have to reconstruct the area with flaps or skin grafts. Sometimes, the site is small enough to heal entirely by itself with no scarring. 

If you have a concerning or changing mole or lesion and want to know if Mohs surgery is the best treatment, visit Daphne Panagotacos, M.D., Inc. Call the office for an evaluation or book an appointment online today.