8 Tips for a Stress-free Mohs Experience

Skin cancer is common: The disease affects 1 in 5 Americans by the age of 70, and each year in the United States, about 3.4 million people receive a cancer diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, or melanoma.

While skin cancer is never good news, there is a bright spot with Mohs surgery, a gold standard treatment that boasts a 99% cure rate. However, this procedure requires time and patience, as it can be long — anywhere from 3 to 10+ hours. 

That said, you don’t have to navigate it alone. Our team at Vivida Dermatology, which includes fellowship-trained and certified Mohs surgeons, has extensive experience helping patients put skin cancer in the rearview mirror. To help you prepare, we’ve gathered some great tips for a stress-free Mohs experience.

Why Mohs surgery is time intensive

The short answer to why Mohs surgery is so time-intensive is that it requires an extraordinary amount of meticulous, hands-on labor.

Before Mohs, surgical treatment of skin cancer was more aggressive. Surgeons removed a good deal of skin, plus a healthy margin, to fully eradicate the cancer. While this approach worked, the after effects weren't ideal, especially if you consider that many skin cancers develop on your face.

With Mohs surgery, our goal is to remove only the tissues that are affected by cancer, leaving healthy tissue intact. This tissue-sparing technique requires us to painstakingly remove the affected skin layer by layer, examining each one under a microscope until no more cancerous or abnormal cells are left.

This means your Mohs procedure will be long, with plenty of breaks throughout as we head to the lab with each layer of skin we remove.

Tips for relaxing during your Mohs surgery

A cancer diagnosis can be scary and since many people are nervous about surgery, stress levels can be high.

We assure you that you’re in excellent hands with our Mohs team. These tips can also help you relax:

1. Wear comfortable clothes.
2. Leave your jewelry behind. It’s one less thing to keep track of.
3. Bring your favorite snacks and drinks, which you can dive into during the lab breaks.
4. Bring along some earphones so that you can listen to a podcast, audiobook, or music to help you stay relaxed and engaged.
5. Practice some deep breathing techniques if you feel anxious: Breathe in for four seconds through your nose, hold for a few seconds, slowly breathe out of your mouth for six seconds, and repeat. This helps to calm your sympathetic nervous system.
6. During your procedure, if you have a question or concern while the surgeon is working, you can raise your finger or voice your question. We’re here to help.
7. If you like to meditate, we can’t think of a better use for this practice than keeping yourself calm and centered during your Mohs procedure.
8. If it’s available, taking small walks during lab testing can calm any jitters you might be feeling.

You know yourself best and what works to keep you calm and your mind occupied. As we said, we’re here to help make the experience go as smoothly as possible, so please let us know if you have any concerns or questions.

If you’d like more information about your upcoming Mohs surgery, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our offices in Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada, and St. George, Utah.