What to Expect on Your Mohs Surgery Day

Your Mohs Consult Appointment

You can even save some time at your Mohs Consult Appointment by review our list to make sure you come prepare with all the information we need for your consult appointment.

• Driver’s License or valid photo ID
• Insurance card
• Copay
• List of current medications and allergies
• List of medical conditions and surgeries
• Name of primary care physician
• Name of preferred pharmacy

Your Mohs Surgery Day

Below we’ve outlined what you can expect on your Mohs surgery day after you’ve completed your consultation with Dr. Tull and scheduled your appointment.

• Arrive at your scheduled appointment time and check in with the front desk
• After check-in, you will be seated in the Mohs lounge
• A staff hostess will enter you in the Mohs queue with a unique identifier, usually your cell phone number
• Once in queue, you will be able to see on the monitor where you are in line for your stage
• When it is your turn, a staff member will take you from the lounge to a procedure room where we will check your vitals, review pertinent medical history, and have you sign your consents.
• Depending on where you are in line and the complexity of the patients ahead of you, it may take up to 30-45 minutes before it is your turn. Feel free to run to the bathroom, watch TV, surf the internet, or continue to enjoy a snack or beverage while you wait for Dr. Tull and her assistants.
• When it is your turn, Dr. Tull and her team will come in and mark and verify the spot to be treated. We will have you sign your initials to confirm that we have looked at the spot together.  This is called a “time out” and is universally done with all procedures to prevent wrong-site surgery.
• After we have marked, verified, and measured the spot, we will numb it with the same type of local anesthesia used with your biopsy.
• Dr. Tull will then scrape the surface to peel away the cancer cells. She will then take a layer of skin under and around this area to take to the lab for processing.
• When Dr. Tull goes to the lab, you will be bandaged and placed back in queue to wait while your slides are being made and for Dr Tull to read them.
• Once Dr. Tull has read your slides, you will be notified if there is residual cancer and need to have another layer taken, if you are clear and need to get discharged, or if you are clear and need to be placed in queue for a repair.
• Each time you return for another stage or repair, your local numbing will be “boosted” or “topped off”. Each numbing typically lasts 2-3 hours so you will often not feel this.
• You will have multiple periods of downtime throughout your Mohs surgery day to run errands or grab a bite to eat. We will be able to contact you via text of where you are in queue.
• When you are discharged, we will give you detailed wound care instructions and some bandaging supplies. We will make a follow-up appointment to evaluate how well you are healing and remove stitches if any were placed.