For a majority of common skin cancers, surgical removal remains the “gold standard” of treatment, providing the best cure rates and confirmation of cancer clearance.  A majority of Basal Cell Carcinomas, Squamous Cell Carcinomas and Melanomas are treated this way.

At the Dermatology Center of Canyon County, we employ of variety of options in addition to surgery, allowing us to tailor our treatment to an individual patient’s needs. 

The following surgical and non-surgical options are most commonly used at our office:

• Surgical Excision: Surgical removal is done in-office with local anesthesia. This is the most common method for removal of invasive cancers on the trunk and extremities. 
• Frozen Excision: This technique involves cutting out the cancer with rapid processing of the tissue to check for complete removal. Our pathologist is located in-office, giving immediate confirmation of results. It is most commonly used for cancers on the face, hands, and legs where minimizing removal of normal tissue is essential. This procedure has been performed thousands of times in our office to effectively remove cancer and provide excellent cosmetic results. 
• Electrodessication and curettage (ED &C): This procedure involves removal of the superficial cancerous layer of skin by scraping away the diseased tissue with an instrument (curette), followed by cautery of the wound bed.  ED & C is an efficient and highly effective treatment for superficial cancers of the skin.
• Topical immunomodulatory agents: Topical chemotherapeutic and immunomodulatory agents can also be used to treat some skin cancers when they are superficial, although cure rates are not as high as surgery.
• Radiation Therapy: This is employed on a more limited basis for treatment of skin cancers where surgery cannot easily remove the cancer, or when surgery may not the best choice for an individual patient.

Your DCCC provider will discuss the skin cancer treatment options available to you and help you make the choice that will maximize your cure rate in the safest manner possible.