What is Excisional Surgery?

Under local anesthesia, your Seacoast Dermatologist removes the visible cancerous tumor along with a surrounding border of presumably normal looking skin as a safety margin. The skin around the surgical site is then closed with stitches and the tissue is sent to a lab to determine whether all cancerous cells have been removed.

What does Excisional Surgery treat?

Many dermatologists will use excisional surgery only after less-aggressive treatments have failed. In some cases where skin cancer is suspected or has been diagnosed, excisional surgery may be the first line of treatment.

Excisional surgery differs from Mohs micrographic surgery in that it will usually impact more of the surrounding healthy tissue than a Mohs procedure.

Procedure:

1. The area is numbed with local anesthesia.
2. The lesion is cut out along with a margin of normal skin to ensure complete removal.
3. The wound is closed with stitches or, if large, a skin graft or flap may be needed.
4. The excised tissue is sent for pathology to confirm clear margins.

Excisional surgery wounds are closed with stitches, which take time to heal and may be uncomfortable. Once the stitches are no longer in place, the remaining wound will act like any other wound, and minor itching or throbbing may occur.