Identifying Lentigo Maligna Often Requires a Multidisciplinary Approach

When you send patients off for Mohs surgery, Dr. Jewett said, you have to be prepared to handle complicated defects. He said that the key to restoring a person’s image after major-league surgery is replacing the skin with the appropriate skin type. For example he noted that different parts of the nose have different types of skin and when the surgeon is finished removing the cancer, the restoration requires use of skin similar in thickness, contour, and color.

In addition, doctors have to be careful to evaluate surrounding structures so that the restoration of the defect does not distort surrounding tissue, he said.

He showed various before and after studies of patients, illustrating that no matter how extensive the surgery, the reconstruction can make the patient look almost as good as before any operations.

©2006 The Triological Society