What is Mohs micrographic surgery?
Dermatologists (Skin Specialists) are the experts in diagnosis and treatment of different skin cancers. Dermatologists will select the best treatment for your skin cancer depending on its type and where it is on your skin. Dermatologists will recommend Mohs surgery when it has an advantage over other ways of treating your skin cancer.
Mohs surgery is named after Dr Frederick Mohs who pioneered this surgery in the 1930s. It has been modified and developed to a highly specialised precise surgical operation which is performed by expertly trained dermatologists
Mohs surgery provides the highest possible cure rates, removing minimal healthy tissue while removing all the cancer which makes the scar as small as possible.
Complete skin cancer removal is ensured by microscopically examining the skin removed during the operation. If cancer cells are seen at an edge, the location is precisely identified and further skin is removed exactly from the area where cancer cells were found and the process is repeated until all the cancer has been completely removed.
What types of skin cancer are best treated by Mohs surgery?
The main reason to perform Mohs surgery is to reduce the risk of incomplete removal of a skin cancer. This means it is fully removed in one operation and may avoid large, more complicated and expensive repeat surgery later if the skin cancer has not been removed fully by another technique.
Mohs surgery is widely accepted as the best treatment for high risk skin cancers including some basal cell, squamous cell skin cancers and some other less common tumours.
It is used especially in
- Cosmetically important areas of the face including the nose, ears, lips, around the eye, genitals and digits.
- Skin cancers that are difficult to see fully with the naked eye.
- Skin cancers that have been incompletely removed by another technique.
- Areas of skin previously exposed to radiotherapy.
- Large skin cancers particularly on the head and neck.
- Basal cell skin cancers with an aggressive appearance under the microscope.
- Squamous cell skin cancers at higher risk spreading such as those on the ear, lip, and scalp; with nerve invasion; or in a patient that has a lowered immune system.