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Mohs Micrographic Surgery (MMS) eradicates cancerous skin cells while preserving healthy tissue. The experienced team at Idaho Skin Surgery Center’s Boise office specializes in performing MMS. This gold-standard treatment offers optimal outcomes for many skin cancers, including basal and squamous cell carcinomas. Call the Idaho Skin Surgery Center office nearest you to learn more about Mohs and book a consultation. You can also request an in-person or video-based telehealth appointment at any time via the online scheduling feature.
What is Mohs Micrographic Surgery?
Mohs micrographic surgery effectively treats many basal and squamous cell carcinomas (the most widespread skin cancers). It also treats some melanomas — more aggressive, potentially life-threatening skin cancers.
The Idaho Skin Surgery Center experts complete the procedure in stages while you wait. This ensures they remove all cancerous cells for optimal cure rates while avoiding healthy tissue damage and leaving minimal scarring.
Frederic E. Mohs, MD, developed Mohs micrographic surgery in the late 1930s. Perry Robins, MD, studied with Dr. Mohs and expanded the procedure, now recognized worldwide as a gold standard skin cancer surgery.
What should I expect from Mohs micrographic surgery?
The Idaho Skin Surgery Center team completes Mohs micrographic surgery in stages. Your surgeon removes a thin layer of tissue and examines it at the on-site lab. If they can see cancer cells under a microscope, your dermatologist knows their exact location.
Using this information, they remove another tissue layer, leaving healthy tissue intact as far as possible. Your dermatologist repeats this process until they can no longer find cancer cells under the microscope. It can take several hours to complete two or more rounds.
Once your Mohs surgeon has eradicated all the cancer cells, they may leave the wound open or stitch it, depending on the surgical site’s size and location.
Sometimes, wounds require skin flap reconstruction after Mohs micrographic surgery, where your dermatologist transfers nearby tissue into the wound. Other patients might need a skin graft.
What benefits does Mohs micrographic surgery offer?
Mohs micrographic surgery is an efficient, cost-effective treatment consisting of a single outpatient procedure. It uses local anesthesia (avoiding general anesthesia cost and risks), and Idaho Skin Surgery Center completes the lab work on-site. Further benefits include the following:
- 100% examination of tumor margins
- Precise results
- Healthy tissue preservation
- Reduced scarring
Mohs micrographic surgery has the highest skin cancer cure rates. Up to 99% of patients with previously untreated skin cancer recover fully; up to 94% recover from skin cancer recurring after previous treatment.
Idaho Skin Surgery Center’s founder, Jared Scott, MD, is an expert in Mohs surgery. Dr. Scott has undergone advanced training (fellowship) and is a Fellow of the American College of Mohs Surgery (ACMS) in Mohs micrographic surgery and reconstruction. He’s completed over 15,000 Mohs surgeries.
Learn more about Mohs micrographic surgery by calling your nearest Idaho Skin Surgery Center office or book an appointment online today.