In this treatment, the doctor removes the cancer by scraping it with a long, thin instrument with a sharp looped edge on one end (called a curette). The area is then treated with an electric needle (electrode) to destroy any remaining cancer cells. This process is often repeated once or twice during the same office visit. Curettage and electrodesiccation is a good treatment for superficial (confined to the top layer of skin) basal cell and squamous cell cancers. It will leave a scar.

Mohs surgery is sometimes used when there is a high risk the skin cancer will come back after treatment, when the extent of the skin cancer is not known, or when the goal is to save as much healthy skin as possible, such as with cancers near the eye or other critical areas such as the central face, ears or fingers.

If lymph nodes near a squamous or basal cell skin cancer are enlarged, the doctor might biopsy them to check for cancer cells. Sometimes, many nodes might be removed in a more extensive operation called a lymph node dissection. The nodes are then looked at under a microscope for signs of cancer. This type of operation is more extensive than surgery on the skin and is usually done while you are under general anesthesia (in a deep sleep).

After surgery to remove a large basal or squamous cell skin cancer, it may not be possible to stretch the nearby skin enough to stitch the edges of the wound together. In these cases, healthy skin can be taken from another part of the body and grafted over the wound to help it heal and to restore the appearance of the affected area. Other reconstructive surgical procedures can also be helpful in some cases.

In this operation, the surgeon removes all of the lymph nodes in the region near the primary melanoma. For example, if the melanoma is on a leg, the surgeon would remove the nodes in the groin region on that side of the body, which is where melanoma cells would most likely travel to first.

If melanoma has spread (metastasized) from the skin to other organs such as the lungs or brain, the cancer is very unlikely to be curable by surgery. Even when only 1 or 2 areas of spread are found by imaging tests such as CT or MRI scans, there are likely to be others that are too small to be found by these scans.