Can Mohs Surgery Wait a Month After Diagnosis?

Basal cell carcinomas are often very slow to grow.  Waiting four or five weeks is not uncommon for some patients to just get an appointment for consultation in some busy practices.  The doubling time for this slow-growing skin cancer allows one to relax if there is a short delay before treatment compared with faster-growing skin cancers such as squamous cell carcinomas or melanomas.  A rare exception would be if there are symptoms of nerve involvement near crucual areas such as the eyelid with shooting pain, new onset of double vision or blurred vision which would suggest you obtain the appropriate consultation prior to delaying the treatment.  The doctor might be able to give someone reassurance that for their case it would not place one's health in jeopardy. In all likelihood you will be able to enjoy your wedding first! 

In many cases, Mohs surgery for uncomplicated skin cancer can wait 1 month. I would agree with my dermatology colleagues. In many cities, it's not unusual to wait several months between diagnosis and the final appointment for skin cancer excision by a Dermatologic surgeon. Enjoy your wedding but make sure you followup as soon as possible after the celebration with your dermatologist.Stephen Weber MD, FACS

It should be fine to wait 4-5 weeks before having the BCC removed.  Enjoy your wedding but make your appointment as soon as possible after you return.  You can even book now to ensure you are on the schedule.
 

Typically waiting 4-5 weeks will not result in any significant difference in your basal cell carcinoma treatment plan. However I would suggest you confirm this with your dermatologist.

Since BCC is a slow growing non lifethreatening skin cancer, I can safely reccomend waiting up to two months before having the procedure.

 

 

As other experts have stated, basal cell carcinoma is a slow growing tumor that indeed can wait some time. Unless you experience significant changes in size of the lesion or symptoms, there is not rush to treat it so it can wait until after the wedding and even the honey moon!

I think it would be fine to wait a month for a small Basal Cell Carcinoma.  That is the most common type of skin cancer and fortunately it is the easiest to treat/cure.  Sunscreen daily and have it treated soon after your wedding and you should be fine.  I must say, some other forms of skin cancer are not safe to delay treatment.

A small basal cell carcinoma typically grows slowly over months to years.  A delay of one month, in my opinion should normally have no effect on the outcome of the surgery.  If the Mohs surgery is "big" it's cos it's big now, not just what happened because you waited a month.

For some types of cancers waiting several weeks to even a few months may not be disastrous.  Other types of skin cancers should be removed rapidly , especially rapidly growing cancers such as rapidly growing squamous cell carcinomas and melanomas. Remember you have been diagnosed with cancer. The nice thing is that since it is on your face you can watch it for the most part , whereas if you were diagnosed with an internal cancer, my guess would be that  your intuition would be to see how fast you could get to the operating room to have it removed.  That being said a basal cell carcinoma is usually rather slow growing and is mostly locally destructive until it reaches a large size where if it spreads to the lymph nodes it can be more deadly than melanoma. If your cancer is indeed small, then waiting 1-2 months may allow it to grow another 1-2 millimeters which should not change the repair option for your Mohs surgeon and only make the cancer removal area slightly larger. In these cases of small slow growing BCCs , I will often support the patients decision to wait until after their big event to have their surgery performed.

For a small basal cell carcinoma on the cheek there shouldn't be any problem waiting 4-5 weeks before having Mohs surgery. Basal cell caricnomas tend to grow very slowly, destroying normal healthy tissue as they grow, but waiting one month should not have any signifcant adverse impact on how large the skin cancer defect will be or what type of repair will be performed.