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Surgery is the most common treatment for nonmelanoma skin cancer, and most procedures are completed under local anesthesia in your doctor’s office. The goal of surgery is to remove the cancer and a small section of healthy tissue (margin), reducing its chance of returning. Ìý

Types of surgery for nonmelanoma skin cancer include:

• Curettage and electrodesiccation: This procedure is used for skin cancers that are limited to the top layers of the skin (the epidermis and superficial dermis). First, the area being treated is numbed with a local injection. Next, your dermatologist uses a curette (sharp, spoon-like instrument) to scrape away skin cancer cells. Your doctor then uses electrocautery (heat and electricity) to control bleeding and destroy any remaining cancer cells. The wound does not require stitches and heals on its own, often resulting in a small, shallow scar.Ìý Ìý
• Surgical excision: This procedure is used to treat skin cancers on the body that go deeper than the first layer of the skin. After numbing the area to be treated with a local anesthetic, your doctor cuts out the cancerous tissue plus a margin of normal skin around the tumor and closes the wound. We send the tissue to a lab where a pathologist examines it under a microscope to ensure the procedure removed all the cancer cells.
• Mohs surgery: This advanced surgical technique removes skin cancer while preserving healthy surrounding tissue. It may be used to treat nonmelanoma on the neck, face, scalp, ears, genitalia, hands, and feet. The procedure is done as an outpatient surgery under local anesthesia. Your Mohs surgeon removes a layer of tissue, and it is processed in the Mohs lab on site. They repeat this procedure on the same area of skin until no cancer cells remain. Your surgeon will discuss with you how the surgical wound should be reconstructed or repaired.

Cancer drugs destroy cancer cells or help your body fight them. You may take these medications and receive other skin cancer treatments, as well. Medications may include:

ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½ may use a prescription skin cream for certain types of skin cancer, particularly on the face, head, neck, or areas not suited for surgery. Your doctor may also use a cream as an additional treatment after surgery.Ìý

Chemotherapy
These medications shrink or destroy cancerous cells. Chemotherapy can also prevent cancer from spreading to other parts of your body.

Immunotherapy
These anti-cancer medications help your body’s immune system fight disease. Ìý

Targeted therapy
Certain medications can attack specific features on cancer cells, helping slow cancer’s growth without harming nearby tissues.Ìý

Photodynamic light therapy (PDT) treats precancerous skin conditions, including actinic keratoses, and some skin cancers. It combines specialized medications (photosensitizing agents) with certain types of light, which activates the drugs to kill cancer cells. PDT treats precancerous skin lesions in less time than a skin cream, although multiple treatments may be necessary.

Radiation therapy is painless treatment that uses high-energy X-rays or other types of radiation to destroy cancer cells. Using the latest technology, we can precisely target tumors and minimize damage to nearby healthy tissue.

Our team is skilled at treating nonmelanoma skin cancer with several types of radiation therapy, including:

• High-dose rate (HDR) skin brachytherapy: ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½ may choose this treatment when surgery isn’t possible, or the cancer is in a sensitive area such as the forehead, ear, nose, or scalp. This type of radiation therapy can be effective for smallÌýbasal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma lesions lesions that haven’t spread deeper than the skin’s surface. Since doctors use high doses of radiation, HDR skin brachytherapy doesn’t require as many treatment visits as traditional radiation therapy.
• 3D conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT): With this method, 3D images help the doctor better target the tumor. We create the images using a computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. Your doctor can aim the radiation beams from many different angles to match the exact shape of the cancer.
• Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT): IMRT is like 3D-CRT, but your doctor can adjust how much radiation you get from each beam. In certain situations, this adjustment enables the doctor to avoid nearby healthy cells to reduce the risk of side effects.
• Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) or stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR): This type of radiation therapy works like the first two methods, and the total amount of radiation you receive is similar. However, with SBRT you receive radiation in fewer but stronger doses.Ìý