Skin Lesions and Cancers

What are Skin Lesions and Cancers?

Skin Cancers and Lesions is a reconstructive surgery that removes and repairs damaged or unnatural changes in the skin. Look specifically for: moles that change size, color or shape; moles that bleed; a black or blue-black spot on the face or neck; sores that do not heal; a pale patch of skin that grows. Many people refer to a mole as any dark spot or irregularity in the skin, such as:

• Birthmarks
• Abnormal formations of blood vessels (hemangiomas)
• Keratoses (benign or precancerous spots, which appear after about age 30 years)

What to expect during the Skin Lesions and Cancers procedure?

Before surgery, you will be given either local or general anesthesia. Your doctor will discuss which type of anesthesia is most appropriate for you, depending in part on where the cancer is located and how much skin needs to be removed. They can be removed by two surgical methods:

• Excision (cutting), with or without stitches
• Excision with cauterization (a tool is used to burn away the mole)
• Laser removal

Mohs surgery may be used if cancerous cells have spread beneath the surface level of the skin. The goal of this surgery is to remove tissue until the doctor finds a clear margin, an area where the skin cancer has not spread. To do this, the plastic surgeon will remove tissue and then have it microscopically examined by a pathologist. If a clear margin is found, the wound is closed.

Excision is used to remove a small or contained lesion. This can be done when there do not appear to be cancerous cells spread beneath the skin’s surface. The small area of skin that is removed during an excision is usually repaired with a simple closure procedure.

What to expect during the recovery for Skin Lesions and Cancers?

In many cases, your plastic surgeon will be able to remove the skin cancer and repair the resulting wound during one surgery. Every effort will be made to treat your cancer without significantly altering your appearance, but the primary goal is to effectively treat your cancer. In some cases, more than one procedure may be necessary to reconstruct the area where the skin cancer was removed.

The wound from skin cancer removal can be repaired with simple closure or require more extensive reconstructive. If a wound is too large for closure, reconstruction can be achieved with a flap or skin graft.