If you’ve been diagnosed with skin cancer, you probably have many questions running through your mind. One of your primary concerns may be how your skin cancer can be treated. Patients with skin cancer may be candidates for a state-of-the-art treatment at Gundersen Lutheran called Mohs surgery.
Mohs surgery is a microscopically controlled skin cancer surgery. The goal is to get the highest possible cure rate while preserving the most normal skin. The surgery has a 98 percent cure rate, the highest of any treatment available.
Mohs surgery is more often used on the face, nose, ears, eyelids, lips, fingers and toes. It is also used where skin cancer has been treated before but has come back. It is rarely done on arms, back or legs.
During Mohs surgery, the surgeon cuts out what seems to be the whole cancer. Sometimes tiny roots reach deeper than the human eye can see. To make sure all the cancer is gone, the surgeon studies a slice of tissue under a microscope. This shows if there are cancer cells hidden at the edge of the wound. The surgeon removes more skin in those areas and takes new samples.
Plan to spend up to a half day at the clinic. It depends on how many samples are taken. You wait 30 to 40 minutes while each one is viewed. This is the way to make sure all cancer is removed.
For more information on skin cancer or Mohs Surgery, please call (608) 775-2382 or (800) 362-9567, ext. 52382.