Everybody hates this part of it. That is why we take all means possible to help you. We give all necessary information as well as any extra information you want.

You have great choices of day and time. We play (usually) soothing music during the procedure. We neutralise the acid in the local anaesthetic and use fine needles. We inject into fat first so it doesn’t hurt as much.

Removing the skin cancer is the number one priority and producing a good cosmetic result is number two.

Many people ask ‘Why was the excision so big’? This is a common thought. What you see is often smaller than the size visible to the doctor, with their skill, magnification and lighting.

Whatever the size that they see, a margin of about 3mm of normal looking skin is added on both sides as there may be cancer spread that can’t be seen.

Whatever width that comes to has to be made into an ellipse three times that length so the skin can be stitched together without a bulge at either end.

For example, a typical skin cancer would appear to be 8mm in diameter to the patient may be seen as slightly larger (10mm) by the doctor then a margin of 3mm each side is added (16mm). This requires an ellipse of 3 x 16 that is 48mm long to adequately remove it.