Types of Mohs Surgery

The main difference between Mohs surgery and other skin cancer surgeries is that Mohs surgery spares as much healthy tissue as possible.

During Mohs skin cancer surgery, your skin cancer surgeon will:

• Remove a layer of tissue, and examine it under a microscope.
• If any cancer cells remain, the surgeon knows the exact area where they are and removes another layer of tissue from that precise location, while sparing as much healthy tissue as possible.
• The doctor repeats this process until no cancer cells remain.

In traditional skin cancer surgery, the surgeon removes the visible cancer, in addition to small fragments around the edge of that area. Each small fragment is examined under a microscope until all of the cancer is removed.