​Facial reconstruction is an extensive topic that cannot be covered comprehensively here.  As I often say to the residents, that is why it takes 5 years of continuous residency surgical training to become a plastic surgeon.  In plastic surgery, we know to “replace like with like”. That means we tend to create surgical repairs to fill cancer sites using the existing normal tissues adjacent to the wound.  This is called a “flap” repair.  In this way, the remaining local normal tissues are redistributed into the repair site and following time for tissue relaxation often provide the best reconstructions. In many cases, multiple flaps may be used simultaneously to redistribute tissue tensions to avoid distortion of the surrounding normal anatomic structures.
 
In larger cases, skin grafts may be used to cover a large shallow area or multi-stage flaps used to add structural elements needed for support in unique locations like the eyelids, nose or ears. In these cases, the first stage of the reconstruction is typically performed on the day of your Mohs surgery but you may need to return for additional surgical “stages” in the weeks to come. As each case is different and impossible in its extent prior to the removal of the cancer, the type of reconstruction needed in each case is only known later on each Mohs surgery day.

Reconstruction Surgery After Mohs Surgery

 To learn more about reconstruction surgery after Mohs surgery watch this informational video with Dr. Cowan