People who live in states with high amounts of sunshine have higher rates of skin cancer.  Guess what, Arizona has its fair share!  There are other factors which contribute to the risk of skin cancer development including family history, a weakened immune system among others.

If you have been diagnosed with a skin cancer on your face or neck which requires surgical removal, this can be done in several settings.  And you have several different options for your treatment.

There are specially trained dermatologists who can remove the lesion with a procedure called Moh’s surgery.  With this method, the dermatologist removes your skin cancer with close margins, meaning close to the visible cancer.  They then check the borders under a microscope to ensure all of the cancer has been removed.  If there are still cancer cells present, they will take an additional small amount of tissue.  This continues until all of the cancer has been removed with minimal removal of healthy noncancerous tissue.  The resulting defect can sometimes be closed/repaired by the dermatologist. However, sometimes, the defect is too large, too complex, or involves a critical area of the face requiring repair by a facial plastic surgeon such as Dr. Ostrom.  Many of these patients can have their care coordinated for the same day if this is anticipated.  Ask your dermatologist is this may be an option for you so that your care can be coordinated appropriately.

Other options for removal include wide local.  This entails taking a prescribed and recommended amount of tissue (based on guidelines provided by the NCCN) around the cancer which appears normal to the naked eye.  Repair of the defect occurs at the same time, in the same setting which means one procedure and one anesthetic.  This is preferred by some patients and may be appropriate for you.  If you think this is an option you might prefer, call to schedule your consultation today.

More advanced skin cancers may require more than just treatment to the lesion itself.  In some cases, the lymph nodes of the neck or perifacial region must be removed to ensure all of the cancer is treated.  Dr. Ostrom is trained to perform these types of operations.