 Skin cancer is more and more common in our patients. We probably treat 4 or 5 patients a day who have malignant or premalignant skin changes. Fortunately, most of these cancers can be treated and cured with relatively simple excision or destruction in the office. In cases where this is not appropriate we have some very capable dermatological surgeons we arrange for our patients to see.
Taking a biopsy of a suspicious lesion is usually very simple and gives us an enormous amount of information without any debility on our patient's part.
Many people once they get past 40 or 50 have a number of relatively minor but annoying skin and nail problems that by themselves are not enough of a problem to warrant an office visit. These might include skin tags, moles, warts, cysts, brown spots, red spots, and even ingrown toenails or toenail fungus.
The best technique for a particular problem might include freezing, burning, trimming, cutting out or laser. Some lesions and spots should be biopsied. Our philosophy, which has served well, is to biopsy anything we cannot be absolutely certain is benign. We can provide all these services right in the office and take care of several problems in one visit.
 If you're interested in getting rid of all those bumps and tags and ugly spots we should examine them all and make a plan for a single visit to get rid of all of them. If lesions are rapidly growing, changing color or raising up "bubbling," or if they itch, bleed or are repeatedly irritated by clothing or by grooming their treatment is usually covered by insurance. |
