Saving Face an article by David G. Brodland, MD

Get The Skinny On Mohs Micrographic Surgery for Skin Cancer
 
by David G. Brodland, MD

 

More than two million Americans will be diagnosed with skin cancer this year, and about one in five will develop a skin cancer in their lifetimes. The number of cases diagnosed every year is increasing at near epidemic rates and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The other bad news is that most skin cancers occur on the face, and can be very disfiguring. If you were to find yourself in this unfortunate but ever more common situation, how would you design the ideal skin cancer treatment? What would you do to save face?

You would develop a technique that would do two very important things. First, it would remove the cancer. Second, the removal would involve the least amount of healthy tissue to ensure the smallest possible wound. Small wounds heal better than large wounds, and obviously the best wound is the one that has no cancer in it.

As it happens, Dr. Frederick Mohs came very close to achieving this ideal treatment in the 1930s. With a few refinements over the years by physicians such as Perry Robins, MD, who was able to adapt newer versions of the technique for use in a greater range of body sites, the Mohs micrographic surgical technique is now the most precise and effective way to treat skin cancer. This has resulted in the very rapid increase of its use for all sorts of skin cancers. Mohs surgery’s popularity is likely to keep increasing as the number of skin cancers continues to rise and as more people become aware of the advantages.

 

Follow this link to read more and take a walk step by step through the process of Mohs surgery http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/mohs-surgery/mohs-surgery-saving-face#panel1-8 Mohs-layer-being-taken inking-and-mapping-of-tissue Sectioning-of-the-margins_160w surgeon-examining-the-slide_160w

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