Three Things You Should Be Expecting After Mohs Surgery

If your doctor has recommended Mohs surgery to treat your skin cancer, you can rest assured that you are going to undergo a surgery with a very high success rate. Statistics show that the success rate of this type of surgery is greater than 99 percent when it is used to treat new cancers. 

Of course, your surgery will have the best chances for success if you are prepared with some important knowledge about what you can expect in the days immediately after the surgery while you are healing. The following are three things patients should be prepared for after the Mohs surgery procedure:

You'll be expected to clean the surgery site regularly while you are recovering.

It's customary for the doctor performing Mohs surgery to instruct the patient on how the surgery site should be cleaned after the procedure is performed. Keeping the surgery site clean is an important part of preventing infection. 

One thing that your doctor will probably tell you is that you should not submerge the wound in warm water when you are bathing or cleaning it. Submerging the wound in warm bath water could raise chances of infection and aggravate any swelling at the wound site.

Some doctors will even write out a prescription for advanced wound care supplies so that patients can disinfect the wound and promote healing through careful cleaning.

Any red or swollen portions of the scar that develops at the surgery site should fade with time.

It's not uncommon for the wound site to develop a swollen and reddish appearance. However, it can be expected that marks at the surgery site will gradually fade over time as the skin heals over the wound.

If there are excessive skin imperfections left over after the surgery wound heals, cosmetic dermatological procedures like skin revisions may be able to completely get rid of these marks. 

There may be some fluid drainage at the surgery site for the first few hours after the procedure.  

It's possible that you will experience some bleeding or other fluid drainage at the surgery site for a few hours after the procedure. However, this drainage should not be copious and should not last long after the procedure.

If your wound won't stop bleeding or draining after surgery, you should notify your doctor right away. This is a sign that your body is not healing properly. If bleeding will not stop, you may need suturing or an additional procedure like cauterization to stem the blood flow so that you can heal properly. 

For more information, contact professionals like Dermatology Surgery Center.