Mohs Surgery Maryland
Dr. Soden Jr. is a highly regarded practitioner of Mohs Surgery in Maryland.
Originally developed in the 1930s, Mohs micrographic surgery has been refined into the most advanced, precise, and effective surgical treatment for an increasing variety of skin cancer types. With the Mohs technique, physicians can precisely identify and remove an entire tumor while leaving the surrounding healthy tissue intact and unharmed.
Success Rate of Mohs Surgery
The Mohs procedure involves surgically removing skin cancer layer by layer and examining the tissue under a microscope until healthy, cancer-free tissue around the tumor is reached (called clear margins). Because the ACMS surgeon is specially trained as a cancer surgeon, pathologist, and reconstructive surgeon, Mohs surgery has the highest success rate of all treatments for skin cancer – up to 99%.
Advantages of Mohs Surgery
Mohs surgery is unique and so effective because of the way the removed tissue is microscopically examined, evaluating 100% of the surgical margins. The pathologic interpretation of the tissue margins is done on site by the Mohs surgeon, who is specially trained in the reading of these slides and is best able to correlate any microscopic findings with the surgical site on the patient. Advantages of Mohs surgery include:
- Ensuring complete cancer removal during surgery, virtually eliminating the chance of the cancer growing back
- Minimizing the amount of healthy tissue lost
- Maximizing the functional and cosmetic outcome resulting from surgery
- Repairing the site of the cancer the same day the cancer is removed, in most cases
- Curing skin cancer when other methods have failed
Other skin cancer treatment methods blindly estimate the amount of tissue to treat, which can result in the unnecessary removal of healthy skin tissue and tumor re-growth if any cancer is missed.
While any board-certified dermatologist may perform Mohs surgery, only members of the American College of Mohs Surgery (ACMS) have undergone rigorous fellowship training through an extremely competitive review and selection process, fellows are required to complete 1 or 2 year post-residency ACMS fellowship training program. This extensive training includes participation in at least 500 Mohs surgery cases under the supervision of an experienced ACMS-approved Mohs Surgeon.
Dr. Soden, Jr. has performed thousands of Mohs cases since completing his ACMS fellowship in 2011. He is both an expert in skin cancer removal and the subsequent reconstruction to help you achieve an excellent cosmetic result.
For patients looking for a safe, non-surgical option for the treatment of their non-melanoma skin cancer, we now perform SRT-100™ superficial radiation therapy.
With a 95 plus percent cure rate, the SRT-100™ alternative to Mohs surgery does what no other skin cancer treatment can do. It cures skin cancer without ever invading the skin.
What is Skin Cancer?
Skin Cancer is by far the most common malignant tumor in humans. The most common types of skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. Both basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma begin as a single point in the upper layers of the skin and slowly enlarge, spreading both along the surface and downward. These extensions cannot always be directly seen. The tumor often extends far beyond what is visible on the surface of the skin. If not completely removed, both types of skin cancer may invade and destroy structures in their path. Although these skin cancers are locally destructive, they do not tend to metastasize (spread) to distant parts of the body. Metastasis of basal cell carcinoma is extremely rare and usually occurs only in the setting of long-standing large tumors where the patient’s immune system is compromised. Squamous cell carcinoma is slightly more dangerous, and patients must be observed for any spread of the tumor. Such spread is still infrequent. Melanoma is a very different and more dangerous kind of skin cancer and is occasionally treated with Mohs Micrographic Surgery.
Excessive exposure to sunlight is the single most important factor associated with the development of skin cancers. In addition, the tendency to develop these cancers appears to be hereditary in certain ethnic groups, especially those with fair complexions and poor tanning abilities. Fair skinned people develop skin cancers more frequently than dark skinned people, and the more sun exposure they receive, the more likely they are to develop a skin cancer. Other factors, including exposure to radiation, trauma and exposure to certain chemicals, may also be involved in the development of skin cancers.
The vast majority of skin cancers are present for more than a year before being diagnosed and their growth is rather slow. Skin cancers may be more aggressive in certain instances; patients whose immune system is compromised, patients with a medical history of leukemia or lymphoma, cancers in certain locations such as the ear, lips, lower nose, or around the eyes.