The most advanced and accurate treatment for skin cancer
Mohs surgery is an advanced surgical technique that has the highest cure rate for skin cancer.
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Mohs surgery is used primarily to treat the two most common types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Dr. Frederic Mohs originally developed the technique in which one physician serves in three distinct roles as cancer surgeon, pathologist, and reconstructive surgeon. Mohs surgery differs from all other skin cancer treatment methods because it combines intraoperative microscopic examination of the cancer with detailed mapping of the entire three-dimensional surgical margin. This precision allows board-certified, fellowship-trained Anir Dhir, M.D. to remove only tissue involved with cancer, with a cure rate of over 99.5%.
Dr. Dhir performs the surgery in our state-of-the-art office while you are awake. Local anesthesia, and sometimes a mild oral sedative, are used to keep you comfortable throughout the procedure. He removes the visible skin cancer along with a thin rim (“margin”) of surrounding skin. A bandage is placed, and you are allowed to relax, and even eat or drink, while our in-house laboratory prepares slides for examination. Dr. Dhir check all edges of the specimen for cancer cells using a microscope. If additional cancer cells are seen, more tissue is removed from precisely the area involved with cancer. Once Dr. Dhir confirms that all cancer has been removed, he utilizes plastic surgical techniques to reconstruct the wound to minimize scarring and give you the most natural result. The wound may be closed with stitches, a flap, or a graft. In some cases, a wound may be allowed to heal on its own.
The purpose of any cancer treatment is to remove all traces of tumor. Cancer roots are often hidden below the surface of the skin and are easily missed with traditional treatments. Unfortunately, all non-Mohs techniques (e.g. scraping and burning, standard excision, and radiation) rely on the unassisted human eye to determine the extent of disease. As a result, these less accurate techniques are associated with cure rates of 90-94% or less, meaning they fail to cure the cancer in at least one out of every ten to twenty treatments. Non-Mohs approaches also lead to repeat surgeries in as many as 1 in 5 cases, because the physician is effectively guessing where the true cancer margins lie.
By contrast, the cure rate at Arizona Mohs Surgery & Dermatology with Mohs surgery is over 99.5%, so the risk of a treatment failure is reduced to less than one in 200 surgeries.
Because Mohs surgery is so precise, the amount of tissue removed is also minimized, resulting in smaller wound which requires smaller reconstruction and heals more quickly.
We are committed to providing the highest quality and safest care at the lowest possible cost.
Our surgeries are performed entirely under local anesthesia in our outpatient office that was designed and built specifically for Mohs surgery using the best U.S.- and German-manufactured equipment and instruments. By focusing on office-based care without putting you to sleep, we eliminate the traditional costs of an ambulatory surgery center or hospital, and the potential risks of intravenous / general anesthesia and alternative therapies such as radiation. Our approach can reduce the cost of a single skin cancer surgery by several hundred or even a few thousand dollars. Dr. Dhir examines the tissue himself while you wait to make sure that the cancer has been completely removed before performing any needed reconstruction. Therefore, a single visit is generally sufficient, and there are no additional pathologist costs in the vast majority of cases. The entire visit (consultation, preparation, anesthesia, excision, tissue examination, and reconstruction) typically lasts 3 to 5 hours. Much of that time is spent waiting comfortably while we prepare and examine the tissue.
Mohs surgery is the gold standard for cancers located in cosmetically or functionally critical areas such as the face, neck, scalp, and hands. It is also the best approach for non-facial tumors measuring at least 2 cm in diameter, as well as aggressive or rapidly growing cancers and those with ill-defined edges on clinical examination. Because Mohs surgery is more accurate than any other approach, many cancers are sent to Dr. Dhir after failing other attempts at therapy. These “recurrent” cancers are typically more serious and often significantly larger than they appear on the surface. The same is true for large or neglected tumors, and those arising in patients with a history of cigarette smoking. Please be advised that these tumors typically require more time and effort to cure, and may occasionally need more than one surgery and/or occasional referral to other specialists if deeper structures (e.g. muscle, bone, cartilage, nerves, tear ducts, the inside of the nose) are involved with cancer. Also, tumors at higher risk for “metastasis” (spread to internal organs) may require additional treatment, such as lymph node dissection, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or immunotherapy, even after microscopically clear margins are obtained.
Dr. Dhir is one of the most experienced skin cancer surgeons in the country, having performed 46,000 Mohs procedures since 1999. His friendly, compassionate team has worked together for many years, and they are committed to your health, comfort, and a positive experience.
I would like to thank Dr. Dhir who is as good as it gets in giving patient care. In this day and time when health care is criticized for various reasons, it is very refreshing to have an organization such as yours doing it the right way. Since my experience with your people, I feel very good about health care and will let others know that you are not only dedicated to your craft but are also dedicated to your patients. Thank you again for making this a very pleasant experience.
A young lady at the entrance greeted me in such a friendly manner that the expression on her face, her posture, and her words caught my attention. The instructions are also striking: "you may bathe", "please try to stop smoking", "we would prefer", "please perform a few days", "please be patient as you heal." And finally, "We wish you a speedy recovery." These instructions come from doctors and nurses who are authorities in dermatology. Yet, they are delightfully modest.
The word "courteous" carries an image by which I can think of my happy experience. I was treated as if I were a royal personage, an honored guest at the court of a king. The king’s royal physician performed the surgery! Please accept my thanks, Dr. Anir Dhir, for this memorable experience.
Thank you for a successful Mohs surgery. I was very confident in your abilities and it was a pleasure to meet you.
Thanks for the advice you gave me to have the mole removed. I am thankful to God for the knowledge he has given you to know how to help people! Thanks again.
Your husband is a super surgeon! Also a super person! The entire office is very super! My experience there has been wonderful. I appreciate all the knowledge and friendly atmosphere.
Thank you so much for the great job that you did for me. I greatly appreciate all that you are and all that you do. Your staff was wonderful and I was impressed with your care, humor, and confidence and of course your skills. I felt very comfortable and in great hands.
I wanted to send you a huge thank you for all the work you did after my surgery. As you can see, the scar is not visible at all! This was a picture from our wedding day and I thought you might enjoy seeing the end result of all of it! Thanks again for taking such excellent care of me and my face!
Dr. Dhir and Jackie, I am blessed to have you be my Mohs team! Thank you!
Thank you for the opportunity to spend time in your practice learning about Mohs surgery and more particularly the art of reconstruction. I sincerely appreciate that you tailored your teaching to my future plans. You are the only professor to have done that so far. This week has given me a great deal of insight into future standards for appropriate skin cancer treatment and management. I look forward to a day when I will be honored to call you a colleague.
