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ADVANTAGES
AND DISADVANTAGES |
| How
Long Does Mohs Micrographic Surgery Take? |
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| Total
removal of a skin cancer, which may involve several surgical
stages, is usually completed in one day. After the surgery,
a decision is made as to the best way to manage the wound
created by the surgery. |
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| How
Effective Is Mohs Micrographic Surgery? |
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| Using
the Mohs micrographic surgical technique, the percentage
of success is very high, often 95% to 98%, even if other
forms of treatment have failed. Therefore, with this
technique, an excellent chance of cure is achieved.
However, no one can guarantee a 100% chance of cure. |
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| What
Are The Advantages Of Mohs Micrographic Surgery? |
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| After
the initial tissue is removed, the surgeon can pinpoint
with the microscope the areas where there is cancer and
then selectively remove tissue only from those areas in
the following surgical stages. In this way, the skin cancer
is traced out to its roots with little guesswork involved,
which results in: (1) the removal of as little normal
tissue as possible, and (2) the highest chance of curing
the patient (under certain circumstances). A frequent
reason why you have been sent to us is that other forms
of therapy have only a 50% to 70% chance of success in
curing skin cancers which have previously been treated
by several different modalities. |
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| What
Are The Disadvantages? |
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| Mohs
micrographic surgery is performed under local anesthesia
so there is some pain from local anesthetic injections.
Also, since the process may involve several surgical stages,
the time for this procedure may take several hours and
often all day. |
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| Will
The Surgery Leave A Scar? |
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Yes.
Most forms of therapy will leave a scar. However, the
Mohs micrographic surgical procedure tends to minimize
this as much as possible. After the wound is healed
you may wish to have the scar improved. Generally, time
alone will improve all scars. Any scar may be further
touched up and improved with a varied of techniques,
such as injections, sanding (dermabrasion), laser, or
further surgery. Remember, all scars improve with time. |
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| My
Skin Cancer Has Been Treated Several Times. Will I Ever Be Cured? |
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| A
frequent reason why you have been sent to us for Mohs micrographic
surgery is that other forms of treatment have failed. This does
not mean that you are cancer prone or have a hopeless case.
It merely means that the methods used to treat you in the past
were not effective enough to destroy all of your skin cancer
cells. Because Mohs micrographic surgery uses a complete, systematic
microscopic examination to search out the roots of the cancer,
it cures almost all patients - even those in whom skin cancer
has persisted in spit of several other treatment modalities. |
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| What
Happens If I Do Not Have My Skin Cancer Treated? |
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| All
types of skin cancer will grow and invade nearby tissue. How
fast a skin cancer will grow is unpredictable and varies from
person to person. Sometimes skin cancer will destroy important
structures such as the nose, lip, or eye. Occasionally, skin
cancers can cause death. |
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