Mohs Micrographic Surgery is an outpatient procedure that involves several steps:
Mohs Micrographic Surgery
Before Surgery
Mohs Micrographic Surgery uses a team approach. The Mohs micrographic surgeon is assisted by a team of technicians, other physicians, nurses, and medical assistants who will be involved directly with your care.
For medical record and educational purposes, we may photograph the skin cancer and surrounding tissue before, during, and immediately after the surgery, and again after healing.
Before surgery, your doctor will discuss the procedure again with you. If you have any additional questions, please ask your doctor at this time.
In preparation for surgery, we will cleanse the area surrounding your skin cancer and place several sterile drapes over you. A sticky pad is placed on your arm or leg which grounds the electrosurgical machine used to stop bleeding. We will numb the area containing the skin cancer with a small local injection. It usually takes 30 minutes. Once the area is numb the tissue is removed.
After removing the tissue, we will process it in our laboratory next to the operating room. You may remain in the surgical room or the waiting room while the doctor processes and examines the tissue under a microscope. Depending upon the amount of tissue removed, processing usually takes an additional 30-45 minutes.
If the microscopic examination reveals the presence of additional tumor, we will go back and remove more tissue. Most skin cancers are removed in two or three surgical stages.