Mohs Surgery

Mohs surgery is a specific type of specialized surgery to remove skin cancer.  Mohs surgery has the highest cure rate of any treatment for skin cancer and fully cures about 98-99% of skin cancers.

 

BV Derm is proud to have a board-certified Mohs surgeon on staff.  Dr. Gallagher has extensive training and experience performing Mohs surgery, completing 600-700 Mohs surgeries every year.

 

During Mohs surgery, Dr. Gallagher will surgically excise your skin cancer in the Lafayette office where we have a dedicated and specialized Mohs laboratory.  Dr. Gallagher will examine the excision specimen under a microscope to ensure complete removal of the cancer before you leave our office.  The specialized surgery leaves as much healthy non-cancerous tissue as possible intact.

What you can expect

  • Unless notified otherwise, you can drive yourself to and from your surgical appointment, as you will be awake during the procedure.  All Mohs surgery cases are performed in our Lafayette office.
  • Once you are in our Lafayette office, one of our providers will evaluate and confirm the surgical site.
  • Next, our staff will clean and then numb the surgical site with local anesthesia.
  • Dr. Gallagher will then surgically remove your skin cancer.
  • Our Mohs team will process the skin specimen in our specialized lab, and Dr. Gallagher will evaluate the specimen under the microscope.
  • If cancer cells remain in your skin, the Mohs process identifies precisely where those cells are.  That area is numbed again, and another layer of skin will be removed, but only where the cancer cells remain.
  • The process repeats until the skin cancer is fully cleared.
  • Once the skin cancer is removed, Dr. Gallagher or another of BV Derm's highly trained providers will close the surgical site by stitching or gluing the skin together.
  • Lastly, our staff will place a bandage over the site and provide cleaning instructions:

 

Please note that the Mohs procedure can last multiple hours, as skin may need to be removed more than once to fully excise the cancer.  You should plan t be in the Lafayette office the entire day of your appointment.

Aftercare

For most Mohs excisions, you can expect two weeks of downtime that includes refraining from swimming or being in standing water (hot tubs, pools, lakes, or oceans).  You may need to return to our office for a suture removal or other wound evaluation following the procedure.

When to make an appointment

If you have a skin cancer and want to know if it can be treated with Mohs surgery, Contact us for an evaluation.