Mohs Micrographic Surgery (Mohs) is the state of the art for treating difficult skin cancers. It has the best cure rate of any method used to treat skin cancer. Also, it makes the smallest hole possible to remove the cancer. Smaller holes heal faster and are easier to reconstruct if necessary.

Mohs is almost always performed under local anesthesia in an outpatient setting. It is recommended for tumors located on the eyelids, nose, lips, ears, and fingers, where tissue conservation is crucial. It may also be used for large, recurrent, or deeply invasive tumors. Certain tumor types or subtypes, due to their invasive growth pattern, are best treated by Mohs.

Mohs surgery was developed by Dr. Frederich Mohs decades ago, and has developed into a very precise method of tumor removal. The procedure uses unique horizontal frozen sections (biopsies), performed while the patient waits. These allow for 100% margin examination by the surgeon. Any positive areas seen on the slides are recorded on a map. This map is then used to identify the microscopically positive areas on the patient, which are then excised and checked again. This process is repeated until the entire tumor is removed.