Can You Have Revision Rhinoplasty After MOHS?

A complicated question that only a comprehensive evaluation be a rhinoplasty surgeon can answer. Hopefully, the biopsy is not skin cancer, but MOHS surgery is good option to treat skin cancer of the nose. Some dermatologists may close the open wound immediately after MOHS, while some dermatologists will refer to a plastic surgeon for wound closure. At that point, the plastic surgeon may consider a revision rhinoplasty at the same time as MOHS wound closure, if appropriate.

Generally, most plastic surgeons do not recommend revision rhinoplasty for at least several months or a year from the first surgery. Speak with your plastic surgeon. Only after a comprehensive evaluation can he/she provide appropriate options for you.

Best,

Dr. Chaboki

 

Yes you can have revision rhinoplasty following Mohs excision. Depending upon the size of the defect you would need to wait 6-12 months. With that said, most Facial Plastic Surgeons will recommend waiting another 9 months (full year following rhinoplasty) before pursuing a revision procedure. This would also depend upon where the skin lesion is located and what portion of your nose you would like addressed with the rhinoplasty revision. If the lesion is on the nasal tip and you want the bridge lowered, you would have to wait a shorter period of time. The first step is to get your nasal lesion biopsied. If that is a basal cell carcinoma you'll want to pursue Mohs. An ignored skin cancer just gets bigger which will jeopardize more of your nasal skin. I hope this information is helpful.

Stephen Weber MD, FACS

Weber Facial Plastic Surgery

 To make sure full healing has taken place from the rhinoplasty and a Mohs micrographic surgery, it is probably best to wait at least a year for a electing to undergo revision rhinoplasty.

Hi

Sorry to hear about your disappointment.  But more importantly sorry to hear you may have a skin cancer at such a young age!  Make sure you see a great MOHS surgeon.  That is much more important than the revision rhinoplasty.  With cancer removal, MOHS or traditional, you have to close the resultant hole.  You need skin.  So I would suggest seeing a Rhinoplasty Specialist and have him coordinate with your MOHS surgeon.  If the hole is small enough perhaps you can get a revision at the same time as closure because elevating the skin during a revision will free it up and allow better closure of the cancer defect.  But if the cancer defect is large enough then you should wait on any revision rhinoplasty at this point.  

You need to put revision rhinoplasty on the back burner for the time till you had taken care of the basal cell carcinoma on the nose. Once the basal cell carcinoma is removed either by Moh's chemosurgery or by Frozen section and the defect is reconstructed then one can tell you if the revision rhinoplasty is safe.

You can certainly have a revision rhinoplasty after Moh's surgery on your nose. The first thing to note is Moh's deals only with the excision of the malignancy. The area of the excision will need to be closed after the tumor resection or allowed to heal by secondary intention. The extent of the resection and the type of closure will determine the timeline for recovery and potential revision of your rhinoplasty.

It depends on where the possible cancer is located.  First, get a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis.  Second, get the MOHs if it is indeed cancer.  If it is basal cell, the rhinoplasty may even be done at the same time as the post MOHs reconstruction if the defect is in a very favorable area.  If the defect is not in a favorable area, then you will have to wait probably 6 months.  If the lesion is squamous cell, I would wait a year after the MOHs to do anything.  Best wishes