How the cancer is removed

Skin cancer is often diagnosed by removing all or part of the growth and examining its cells under a microscope - a biopsy. It can be treated by a number of methods, depending on the type of cancer, its stage of growth, and its location on your body. Most skin cancers are removed surgically. If the cancer is small, the procedure can be done quickly and easily in an outpatient facility or our office, using local anesthesia. The procedure may be a simple excision with a relatively small scar.   If the cancer is large, however, or if it has spread to the lymph glands or elsewhere in the body, more major surgery may be required. Other possible treatments for skin cancer include cautery, cryosurgery (freezing the cancer cells), radiation therapy (using x-rays), topical chemotherapy (anti-cancer drugs applied to the skin), and Mohs surgery, a special procedure in which the cancer is shaved off one layer at a time. (Mohs surgery is performed by specially trained physicians and often requires a reconstructive procedure soon thereafter.)

Here is a link to the abstract of an article by Dr. Bentkover and his colleagues comparing two ways of removing Basal Cell Cancer.  Please click the back button on you web browser to return to our website when you are finished.  You may also go back to the previous page to view the abstract. 

http://archfaci.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/4/2/114

The reconstruction

The different techniques used in for removing skin cancers (like Mohs Micrographic Surgery) are important, but they may leave a patient with a less than pleasing cosmetic or functional deficit. Depending on the location and severity of the cancer, the immediate result may range from a small but unsightly defect to major changes in facial structures such as your nose, ear, or lip. In such cases, Dr. Bentkover's reconstruction can be very helpful in optimizing the appearance and function of the part of your face affected by the removal of the cancer. Reconstructive techniques ranging from a simple skin graft to a complex transfer of tissue flaps from elsewhere on the body can often repair damaged tissue, rebuild body parts, and restore most patients to acceptable appearance and function.

Some of the techniques include ...

• Simple excisions with straight line closures
• Skin grafts taken from elsewhere on the body (usually the neck or leg
• Small adjacent skin flaps - tissue moved from an adjoining area to fill the defect
• Pedicle flaps - staged reconstructions with flaps taken from more distant areas
• Tissue expansion - a staged reconstruction involving first enlarging the tissues adjacent to the skin cancer to make more skin for reconstruction

Discussing your options and concerns

A number of the treatments mentioned above, when chosen carefully and appropriately, have good cure rates for most basal cell and squamous cell cancers-and even for malignant melanoma, if it is caught very early.

Dr. Bentkover has well over 25years experience in treating cancers of the face, head, and neck ranging from small early skin cancers to large extensive cancers. He will be happy to discuss various treatment options with you before beginning treatment. The type of treatment recommended depends on the type of cancer, its size and its location.