• Unless notified otherwise, you can drive yourself to and from your surgical appointment, as you will be awake during the procedure.  All Mohs surgery cases are performed in our Lafayette office.
• Once you are in our Lafayette office, one of our providers will evaluate and confirm the surgical site.
• Next, our staff will clean and then numb the surgical site with local anesthesia.
• Dr. Gallagher will then surgically remove your skin cancer.
• Our Mohs team will process the skin specimen in our specialized lab, and Dr. Gallagher will evaluate the specimen under the microscope.
• If cancer cells remain in your skin, the Mohs process identifies precisely where those cells are.  That area is numbed again, and another layer of skin will be removed, but only where the cancer cells remain.
• The process repeats until the skin cancer is fully cleared.
• Once the skin cancer is removed, Dr. Gallagher or another of BV Derm's highly trained providers will close the surgical site by stitching or gluing the skin together.
• Lastly, our staff will place a bandage over the site and provide cleaning instructions:
  • MOHS Procedure PostOp 
  • MOHS Instructions (Spanish)

Please note that the Mohs procedure can last multiple hours, as skin may need to be removed more than once to fully excise the cancer.  You should plan t be in the Lafayette office the entire day of your appointment.