Latest Mohs skin cancer surgery guidelines

Zeroing in on who might be eligible for this first-line treatment.

For the first time, dermatologists now have official guidelines for Mohs surgery, a procedure that removes skin cancer while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue. The new Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) for Mohs surgery, approved by a number of dermatologic associations, will help doctors better select patients for the procedure. "There can be a slight bias toward using it for almost all nonmelanoma skin cancers, since Mohs surgery offers the highest cure rate of any surgical procedure for skin cancer," says Dr. Tom Rohrer, a Mohs surgeon at Harvard-affiliated New England Baptist Hospital.