The Laser & Skin Surgery Center

Basal Cell Cancer is the most common form of skin cancer, followed by squamous cell cancer. Melanoma is less common than either basal or squamous cell cancer but is the most aggressive of skin cancers. Besides these three types, other less common types of skin cancer are also encountered.

Basal cell cancers can have a variety of different appearances to the observing eye. Under a microscope, basal cell cancers have different growth patterns as well - some being more aggressive than others. Different treatments are available for basal cell cancers. These include:

Simple surgical removal followed by a repair of the skin.
"Curettage & Electrodessication" (Scraping & Burning).
Mohs Micrographic Surgery followed by reconstruction of the skin.
Treatment with Efudex cream
Radiation therapy.

Except for radiation (which is performed at a hospital or outpatient radiation therapy facility), all treatments are offered at our office. Which treatment is recommended for a particular skin cancer depends on a number of characteristics of the skin cancer. After considering the location, size, presence or absence of clear definition, the failure of previous treatments, microscopic appearance, etc, the appropriate treatment is recommended.

Mohs micrographic surgery provides the best cure rate for many skin cancers. An office procedure performed with local anesthetic, it involves step by step removal of the cancer until only cancer-free tissue is left, as determined my microscopic examination of the removed tissue. The wound created in the skin by removal of the skin cancer is evaluated and is reconstructed the following day in 99% of the cases, with very gratifying cosmetic results.