Delivering the highest rate of cure of any surgical procedure for the treatment of skin cancer, this surgical approach minimizes the amount of healthy tissue lost and maximizes the functional and cosmetic outcome of the surgery.
We have surgery centers in Annapolis, Bethesda, Prince Frederick, Owings Mills, Westminster and Hagerstown, Maryland and Fairfax, Virginia. All are staffed by surgeons specially trained in Mohs Micrographic Surgery, who combined, have performed thousands of Mohs procedures. In addition to serving our own patients, our surgeons welcome referrals for Mohs treatment from many other area dermatologists as well as general physicians.
What is “Mohs Micrographic Surgery”?
The visible portion of the tumor is removed, then working outward from the affected area, a thin layer of skin is removed at a time. The tissue is immediately evaluated under a microscope to determine the extent of the cancer. Successive layers are removed only where necessary, until no tumor is present. This complete, systematic microscopic search for the “roots” of the skin cancer, offers a 97% – 99% chance for complete removal of cancer without an excessive loss of normal tissue. As a result, Mohs Micrographic Surgery is very useful for large tumors, tumors with indistinct borders, tumors near vital functional or cosmetically important areas, and tumors for which other forms of therapy have failed. However, no surgeon or technique can guarantee a 100% chance of cure.
