Skin Cancer Surgery Center

Skin Cancer Surgery Center was established in 1989 and is an affiliate of Anne Arundel Dermatology. It serves patients from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., and works as a referral center, so patients may come in through their own physician and the center keeps that doctor informed. The center describes its aim as using state-of-the-art procedures in a friendly, comfortable and efficient setting.

Patients can ask for a preoperative consultation with the physicians and staff, or schedule surgery directly. Surgery appointments are held in the morning and early afternoon. Patients taking Coumadin, blood pressure medication or an antibiotic before dental work should tell the office beforehand. Ibuprofen and vitamin E supplements are avoided before surgery, with acetaminophen as a substitute, and alcohol is avoided for 24 hours before. After Mohs surgery, patients return to the office five to seven days later.

Mohs micrographic surgery is used to remove skin tumors and growths. The visible tumor is taken out first, then thin layers of tissue are removed and each one is examined under a microscope until no tumor remains. Most skin cancers are removed in one to three surgical stages. Reconstruction, which may be healing on its own, side-to-side stitches, a skin graft or a flap, is decided once the final defect is known. The center calls Mohs the gold standard for certain skin cancers with the highest cure rate among surgical options. It reports a cure rate over 99 percent overall, about 98 percent for new basal and squamous cell carcinomas, and 95 percent effectiveness for recurrent tumors previously treated.

Beyond Mohs, skin cancer treatment covers diagnosis and a range of options: excision, curettage and electrodesiccation, immunotherapy, cryosurgery, chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy and radiation therapy. According to the center, its physicians together have over one hundred years of medical experience and it treats more than 5,000 patients with skin cancer each year. The center describes its dermatologic surgeons as award-winning and its surgery as the most advanced in the Bethesda and Fairfax areas. It also says membership in the American College of Mohs Surgery is open only to fellowship-trained surgeons.

Operates as a referral center, keeping ongoing communication with each patient's referring doctor to coordinate the procedure and follow-up.

According to the center, the setting is meant to feel friendly, comfortable and efficient.