What is Mohs Surgery?

Mohs surgery is a procedure used to remove skin cancers (most commonly basal and squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma) in a way that preserves a maximum amount of healthy tissue. It is useful for skin cancers when: (1) the location of the cancer is near sensitive areas, like the fingers or face; (2) earlier treatments have not worked; (3) a skin cancer is large; and (4) regular surgery is less likely to remove the cancer. This procedure video illustrates the procedure on 2 patients with basal cell carcinoma. Click to learn more. 0:00 Disclaimer 0:07 Introduction 0:28 What this video will cover 0:43 Mohs “stage“ steps 1:09 Marking surgical sites 1:27 Stage 1: skin layer resection (patient 1) 1:59 Maintaining skin layer orientation 2:55 Stage 1: processing layer onto slides (patient 1) 3:53 Stage 1: histology review for cancer (patient 1) 4:31 Discussion on wound closure 5:10 Wound closure (patient 1) 5:47 Stage 1: histology review for cancer (patient 2) 6:24 Stage 2: skin layer resecti