Many people are concerned when they have to go in for surgery related to skin cancer. They fear being physically deformed or their looks being defiled and made ugly. Many ask, what are the risks that they face regarding Mohs surgery scars? The truth is that scarring depends on the surgery, the surgeon, the care, the after care, the home care, the history of the patient and their family and the ability for the patient to heal properly.
Such scars require some additional things during surgery or even additional surgeries, depending on the extent and spread of the skin cancer. Usually, most scars improve gradually over time, taking about a year or more to properly mature. So, as the site of the wound heals, blood vessels appear again, supporting the healing process happening beneath the skin. During this time, the scar may appear red, but this is only temporary.
The normal process of healing associated with this type of surgery includes a time when the skin contracts, usually being at its peak between four to six weeks after the surgery has been done. This might look somewhat bumpy and the scar may appear to be hardening. However, these changes are part of the healing and not the final result. These issues are only temporary. As time passes the scar improves and softens. On the odd and very rare occasion, those with abnormal family and personal scarring histories may get keloids or hypertrophic scars. Most surgeons are well versed with how to treat these scar issues and can provide many cosmetic options, including injections.
Mohs surgery scars are some of the least intrusive scars because of developed technique by a surgeon after which the surgery was named. It is how the closures are made of the missing skin tissue and the complete removal of all cancerous cells that enable the procedure to be so successful in reducing scar appearances. In some case there may be portions of skin removed from healthy areas, generally invisible to most people because of their location, and applied to the areas that were operated on. At the very worst, scars that overgrow can be treated with dermabrasion, sanding it down to be thin and less obvious against the surrounding skin.
