Mohs surgery

Mohs sur­gery is a spe­cia­li­sed tech­ni­que for remo­ving skin can­cer in which the sur­gi­cal mar­gins are exami­ned com­ple­te­ly under the micro­scope. It is named after the Ame­ri­can sur­ge­on Fre­de­ric Mohs. The aim is to remo­ve the tumour enti­re­ly while pre­ser­ving as much healt­hy tis­sue as possible.

Appli­ca­ti­on

It is main­ly used for basal cell car­ci­no­ma and squa­mous cell car­ci­no­ma, par­ti­cu­lar­ly on the nose, eyelids, lips or ears and for recur­rent tumours. Tis­sue is remo­ved lay­er by lay­er and exami­ned straight away. If tumour cells remain at the edge, fur­ther tis­sue is remo­ved only at that spot. The pro­ce­du­re is per­for­med under local anaesthesia.

Good to know

The pro­ce­du­re can take seve­ral hours, as each step invol­ves wai­ting for the exami­na­ti­on result. Cure rates are con­side­red high, alt­hough recur­rence can­not be ruled out enti­re­ly. The wound is clo­sed direct­ly or at a second stage, using a skin flap for lar­ger defects. In Ger­man-spea­king count­ries, a rela­ted method with delay­ed mar­gin con­trol is also wide­ly used.

Matching tre­at­ment at Swiss Der­ma Cli­nic: Skin can­cer treatment