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Patient Care What happens the day of surgery? Mohs surgery is performed on an outpatient basis, under the safety of local anesthesia. Appointments for surgery are scheduled early in the day. This allows us to complete several surgical stages throughout the day (if necessary) and relieves you of having to make another trip to the office the next day. Our staff will escort you into a surgical suite where Dr. Boyer will review your medical history, pathology reports, perform a detailed examination of your skin, and answer any questions you or your family members may have regarding your diagnosis and the procedure. When you are ready, Dr. Boyer will use a local anesthetic to numb the area around the cancer. First, cancer obvious to the naked eye is removed, and then a thin layer of skin is removed from around this site. The tissue specimen is mapped and immediately processed in our on-site laboratory. Patients are bandaged and permitted to relax in the reception area during this processing. Dr. Boyer will microscopically examine the specimen to identify and map any persistent cancer. Patients with persistent cancer have the procedure immediately repeated, as required, until the cancer is completely removed. The area where the cancer was removed is then repaired using techniques developed to give the best cosmetic and functional result. In some cases, the wound is left to heal naturally; in others the patient is referred to specialists for final wound repair. In each case, the Mohs surgeon will advise the patient on the best option to pursue. Will I need to come back? Following your surgery, it is recommended that the wound site be inspected at one week, and again at three months, by your Mohs surgeon. You should also return to your referring physician for routine skin care. Patients with skin cancer have a 40% risk of getting a new skin cancer within the next five years. It is recommended that you perform a self-skin examination every month and see your dermatologist at least twice a year. How can I protect myself from developing more skin cancers? The best protection from skin cancer is to avoid the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. Even if you tan easily, the sun can contribute to skin cancer in two ways. First, the sunlight damages the genes that control cell growth; and second, sunlight damages the body’s immune system so that early cancers grow unchecked by normal immune defenses. It is recommended that you minimize your exposure to the sun by these methods:
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