MOHS - Micrographic Skin Cancer Surgery
Mohs Micrographic Surgery, an advanced treatment procedure for skin cancer, offers the highest potential for recovery - even if the skin cancer has been previously treated. Midwest Medical Specialists has three dermatologists on staff trained in this extremely precise and demanding procedure in which the physician serves as surgeon, pathologist and reconstructive surgeon.
Mohs Surgery (named after its developer, Dr. Frederic Mohs) relies on the accuracy of a microscope to trace and ensure removal of skin cancer down to its roots, while leaving healthy tissue unharmed. This procedure is most often used in treating two of the most common forms of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.
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| The Mohs technique involves several key steps which can be time-consuming,but offer a nearly 99% cure rate when it comes to many kinds of skin cancers. Photo courtesy of: UW HEALTH |
MOHS surgery generally requires only a local anesthetic and can be performed right in our MMS office or Surgical Center. It can be time-consuming, but is extremely effective in treating many forms of skin cancer. While you can expect a scar, it will be smaller and less noticeable since the procedure removes less normal tissue.
The surgery is performed in four steps:
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Step One: Tissue is surgically removed
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Step Two: The removed tissue is frozen, cut into small slices, placed on slides, and "mapped" to show abnormalities
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Step Three: Tissue slides are analyzed. Steps 1 - 3 are repeated until no further cancer is found
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Step Four: Reconstruction of the surgical defect (stitches, grafts, flaps or natural healing)
Mohs is the procedure of choice in anatomically important areas, such as the eyelid, nose and lips, because of its tissue sparing results and cure rate of 97% - 99% for basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. For more information on Mohs Surgery, we encourage you to visit:www.mohssurgery.ca
