Melanoma Treatment: How MOHS Surgery Works
If you or a loved one is battling skin cancer, you may be familiar with the different treatment options that are available: chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, and wide excision. Your doctor will explain everything that is available to you, especially taking into consideration your specific situation. After all, melanoma treatment will vary from individual to individual; there is no one-fits-all treatment plan.
Melanoma Treatment Options
It’s fairly easy to catch skin cancer before it metastasizes and travels to other parts of your body. The catch is that you have to be looking for it; this is why we recommend that you schedule regular skin cancer screenings with one of our professionals. If melanoma is discovered during one of your visits, there are several options available to you— one of which is Mohs surgery.
What is Mohs Surgery?
A technique developed in the 1930s, Mohs (also called micrographic surgery) is a procedure that uses a unique approach to remove cancer from the healthy surrounding tissue. Developed by Dr. Frederic Mohs, this surgery makes use of a “map” of your skin cancer— this helps guide your surgeon in removing the correct amount of tissue. Mohs surgery is highly effective since it not only completely removes the mass in one sitting, but also maintains your healthy skin that surrounds the cancerous mass.
Often, scarring is minimal or can be minimized with grafting. The amount of time you spend in the operation (local anesthetic only) depends on the extent of your cancer. We recommend that you bring something to keep yourself busy during your procedure. The main goal of Mohs is to eradicate the tumor all in one procedure, so it may take several hours to remove your melanoma.
What Happens During Mohs Surgery?
This surgical procedure is usually booked for an entire day, but it rarely takes that long. The reason that your surgeon will reserve a whole day is simple: samples will need to be taken to and examined in the lab as the surgery progresses. Since the MOHS procedure evaluates separate layers of tissue to completely eliminate the cancerous threat, several layers may need to be removed and tested. Your surgeon will ensure that there is no cancer left before closing up your surgical site.
Mohs Surgeon in Tampa
Here at Academic Alliance in Dermatology, we are well-versed in Mohs surgeries. Doctor V has seen over forty years’ worth of cancer patients and treated many of them with this procedure. If you’re looking for a Mohs surgeon in Tampa, give us a call to schedule a consultation.
