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MOHS Repair of Skin Cancer on the Nose by Facial Plastic Surgeon on CBS...
MOHS Surgery is performed to remove skin cancers like basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma from the face. MOHS surgery is a preferred method of removing facial skin cancer because it can successfully treat skin cancer by removing the minimum amount of skin possible. Face and nose reconstruction is performed after MOHS surgery of delicate and highly visible areas such as the face, nose, and ears. This segment features two patients who had MOHS repair with a paramedian forehead flap. More information on reconstructive surgery after skin cancer is available on our facial reconstruction section.
Reporter - A special for Your Health report involving skin cancer. Did you know that one and six Americans will get skin cancer in their lifetime? There are a million new cases each year. Often times when it's removed from the face it leaves a defect though. As Cynthia Demus shows us tonight, there is an amazing procedure that grows skin to make the affected areas look like new.
Reporter - Cynthia Demus: Seventy-six year old Dorothy Wolk recently learned she had skin cancer.
Patient - They did biopsies and told me that I had basal cell and then I went for the mohs method.
Reporter - Sixty-seven year old Victor Gobi also had mohs surgery which removes skin cancer in a very exact way. Patient's are often left with a hole in their skin because the goal is to completely remove the skin cancer cells.
Dr. Steiger - Many patients come to me because they are left with a big defect from mohs surgery.
Reporter Facial plastic surgeon Jacob Steiger repairs these defects.
Patient - They (Dr. Steiger) took cartilage from this ear and they put it in the nose.
Reporter Cartilage is removed from the ear and placed in the defective areas, but it will take more than that for the area to heal.
Dr. Steiger - That tissue needs a blood supply from your body, just like a transplant would need blood in order to allow it to live.
Reporter Amazingly the tissue is attached to the cheek or the forehead to create a new blood supply.
Dr. Steiger - After approximately two to three weeks, what happens is the area around the nose where you graft that tissue to will grow a new blood supply so we can then detach it.
Reporter - Once detached the skin looks brand new. A scar on the forehead or cheek takes six months to a year to clear up.
Patient 2 - It's really not a real scar really.
Reporter - Most surgery is so successful, doctors boast cure rates of ninety-nine percent. Obviously the two weeks the tissue is growing on the face may not look so attractive, but patients say it is well worth the brief inconvenience.
For more information, please visit the main MOHS reconstruction and repair section.