The Mohs surgery technique of skin cancer removal was developed to achieve definitive treatment of skin cancer with minimal damage to, and limited removal of, healthy skin. Unlike excisions—a standard dermatological procedure involving removal of the visible tumor along with a wide, arbitrary margin of normal skin—Mohs precisely excises only affected tissue, layer-by-layer, until the tumor is extracted in its entirety.

Whereas excisions are sent off-site to a pathologist to be examined at a later date, Mohs emphasizes same-day results and a single on-site procedure. Mohs surgery is considered the Gold Standard of skin cancer treatment, and is a highly advanced procedure and should only be performed by surgeons who specialize in the technique. When performed by a Fellowship-Trained Mohs Surgeon, like those at our practice, patients can expect and have come to rely on us for the definitive diagnosis and removal of skin cancers.

The Mohs procedure begins by removing the visible skin cancer and processing the sample in our on-site Mohs laboratory, where it is examined under the microscope by your surgeon. After evaluating the tissue, the Mohs surgeon draws a map to show where, if anywhere, residual skin cancer remains. Using this map, subsequent layers of cancer-containing tissue can then be removed while sparing the normal healthy tissue around it. This process is repeated until the entire skin cancer, including any roots, is removed.