Skin Cancer Removal and Surgery

If you have a small or early skin cancer, they can sometimes be treated without surgery using creams or cryotherapy (freezing therapy). We can assess if your skin cancer is suitable for these treatments and administer them for you in the clinic. These treatments are also suitable for some benign and premalignant lesions (lesions that can later turn into cancers).

Unfortunately for most skin cancers the best treatment is surgical excision. At Northland Plastic Surgery we can perform all levels of complexity of skin cancer surgery for insured and private paying patients. We are an accredited skin cancer treatment provider for Southern Cross. Simple procedures can be performed under local anaesthesia in our accredited on-site operating theatre. More complex procedures will be undertaken under sedation or general anaesthesia at Kensington Hospital or Rodney Surgical Centre. Additionally, we can offer excision with frozen section control when indicated. Frozen section control uses a similar principle to Mohs surgery which analyses the edges of the tumour at the time of surgery. This technique can give additional reassurance that skin cancers have been completely removed.

Most excisions will be closed directly with dissolvable stitches leaving a linear scar. However, depending on the size and location of the hole in the skin that is left after your cancer has been excised, a more complex reconstruction will be required. This involves plastic surgical techniques such as “skin grafts” or “flaps”. Your surgeon will discuss with you if one of these techniques is required for your surgery.