Surgical Dermatology

We treat everything from benign growths to high-risk skin cancers using local anesthesia done right in our office.

Mohs micrographic surgery, or Mohs surgery, is a precise surgical technique in which the complete excision of skin cancer is checked by microscopic margin control. It offers the highest cure rates while maximizing preservation of healthy tissue. The principles behind it were developed by Dr. Frederic Mohs in the 1930s.

Mohs surgery is recognized as the treatment of choice for high-risk basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. During the surgery, the skin cancer is progressively removed in stages. After each stage, the excision margins are microscopically examined for remaining cancer cells and this process is repeated until all cancer has been removed.

Dr. Khokher and her team are experts at removing benign growths such as cysts, keloids, and lipomas and malignant growths such as melanoma. After local anesthesia is achieved, an incision is made around and deep to the skin, extending the incision into the fat layer. After removal of the tissue, the defect is repaired with stitches, often in a linear fashion. Once removed, the tissue is sent to a skin-specific laboratory for further evaluation by a dermatopathologist.

After local anesthesia is achieved, a surgical curette is used to scrape into the surrounding and deeper skin layers, and heat is applied to the skin using electrodessication. Since curetted tissue cannot be adequately assessed under the microscope, no tissue is sent for microscopic evaluation and thus no pathology reports can be issued stating the margins are clear.

Cryotherapy is a minimally invasive procedure that uses an extremely cold liquid or instrument to freeze and destroy abnormal tissue that requires elimination.

A skin biopsy is the removal of a sample of skin. It is usually undertaken using a local anesthetic injection into the skin to numb the area. The injection stings transiently. After the procedure, a suture or dressing may be applied to the site of the biopsy.

The removed tissue is then sent to a skin-specific laboratory for evaluation by a dermatopathologist.