Mohs surgery, also known as chemosurgery, is a treatment option for many types of skin cancer. If you have undergone such a treatment, you may want to know if you can get any type of cosmetic treatments that involve the use of lasers or light therapy. You need to make sure that the treatments you get don't pose a danger to your skin's condition and will not potentially cause cancer.
Liposuction Treatments
Liposuction treatments may be safely combined with Mohs surgery and will not affect the surgery in any way. It is important to have a waiting period between Mohs surgery and the liposuction treatment, to allow the body to recover. Any type of liposuction can be performed after a Mohs surgery, including laser, light, ultrasound or liquid assisted procedures. Less invasive liposuction treatments are more recommended, because these will cause less damage to the skin.
Facial Lift
If you are worried about wrinkles and skin sagging, you can get a facial lift. Talk with your plastic surgeon and establish the best time to perform this treatment. Ideally, you should wait up to six months after the Mohs surgery to get such an invasive cosmetic surgery.
Skin Resurfacing and Repair
If you would like to avoid a face lift, but want a softer skin with fewer wrinkles, you can opt for less invasive skin treatments. Fractional resurfacing is available and you may opt for various types of laser therapies:
- Fraxel resurfacing
- Fraxel repair
- Palomar fractional resurfacing
These treatments employ ablative or non-ablative lasers that will heat up the deeper layers of the skin and will stimulate the collagen, thus tightening the skin. These treatments may also be helpful to reduce the visibility of the possible scars after Mohs surgery.
The lasers will not affect the skin in any way and will not trigger the development of precancerous lesions. However, it's important to inform your cosmetic surgeon about prior treatments such as Mohs surgery.
Dermal Fillers
Dermal fillers are often used in plastic surgery clinics to replace other more invasive skin tightening procedures. Dermal fillers may contain various ingredients including collagen (synthetic, human, bovine or porcine) and these are not known to have a negative influence on the skin and cancer.
BOTOX®
BOTOX® can be applied after a Mohs surgery and to date, no negative effects have been reported in former cancer patients. BOTOX® involves the injection of a controlled quantity of botulinum toxin A under the skin, and this toxin will act as a muscle relaxant, preventing dynamic wrinkles for six to nine months. Talk to your dermatologist about your treatment options and the best time to get this type of procedure.
Facial Peels
Chemical peels such as the Blue peel may be applied on the skin after the Mohs surgery to diminish the appearance of surgery scars or other aging imperfections. A waiting period is necessary between the Mohs surgery and treatments that employ various chemicals.
