Skin Cancer Removal
At Reid Health, skin cancer removal by our skilled plastic surgeon ensures precision, minimal scarring, and personalized care for optimal cosmetic and health outcomes.
Skin cancer care that improves your health and self-confidence
Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the U.S., and it affects men and women alike. Providers have several options to treat it effectively, but surgery is commonly used for many types of the disease.
Reid Health’s plastic surgeon use innovative techniques and a careful touch to remove skin cancers on the face and other sensitive areas of your body. Because they try to leave their mark by not leaving a mark, our plastic surgeons can also treat skin cancers that require a graft or, when removed, might leave significant scars.
If you need complex or sensitive skin cancer removal, you don’t have to travel to get advanced care. We’re proud to offer these services right here in East Central Indiana and West Central Ohio.
A partner in skin protection
Plastic surgeons do more than diagnose and treat skin cancer. They can also help protect your skin from sun damage and check it for suspicious spots to treat cancer and precancerous spots early.
Our plastic surgeon works closely with the physician assistants and medical estheticians at Revive Spa & Skincare to offer physician-only, medical-grade skin care products to protect and rejuvenate your skin. They also offer microneedling, skin resurfacing, and laser treatments that can address sun-damaged skin.
What is skin cancer removal?
Skin cancer surgery is a common treatment option for basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers and melanoma, the most dangerous type of the disease.
If your skin cancer was diagnosed early enough, surgery to remove the cancerous cells might be enough to cure it, making other treatments unnecessary.
In some cases, surgery can cure early-stage melanoma, as well. But if the cancer has or is likely to spread, a plastic surgeon might work with your oncology providers to surgically remove the melanoma before you receive other treatments, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or radiation therapy.
Types of skin cancer surgery
Our plastic surgeons perform many different types of procedures to treat and diagnose skin cancer in ways that minimize scarring., including:
- Local excision: If you have a suspicious skin spot, your plastic surgeon will numb the area and remove the spot to have it biopsied.
- Mohs surgery: During Mohs surgery, a thin layer of tissue is removed, including the tumor, and sent to a pathologist, who inspects it for cancer cells. If cancer is found in the skin outside of the tumor, your surgeon will perform the procedure again, removing and examining another layer of skin repeatedly until no additional cancer cells are detected. Surgeons might use Mohs surgery for basal and squamous cell carcinomas and early-stage melanomas.
- Standard excision: Your surgeon removes the cancerous tissue by cutting out the tumor along with a small amount of healthy tissue.
- Shave excision: Your surgeon shaves off layers of skin including the tumor.
- Curettage and electrodesiccation: Your surgeon scrapes off the cancer and then uses an electric needle to destroy any remaining cancer cells.
- Wide excision: A type of surgery for most melanomas, wide excisions remove the tumor along with a portion of the skin around it.