Dr Parker talks about Advantages of Mohs Surgery for Skin Cancer

Dr. Thornwall Parker: Most surgery has special technique for skin cancer removal, in which the same doctor that removes the cancer takes the skin to the laboratory, checks the edges under the microscope, and then potentially repeats that process, if there's more cancer left, until all the cancer is removed. It's essentially a layer by layer way of taking a cancer off, and the goal is really to try to keep the hole as small as we can, but still make sure we have the highest cure rate. 

There are a few major advantages to Mohs surgery. First of all, and most important, Mohs surgery has the highest cure rate for most skin cancers. Typical cure rates for both basal cell and for thin melanomas is close to 99%. Most surgery is also a procedure that's usually done safely, under local anesthesia, so patients can eat what they want, drink what they want, and they can drive here, they can drive home. One of the big advantages of Mohs surgery, you get your results the same day, instead of getting cancer cut out and having to wait days and days, or a couple weeks, you get the results the same day.