I had Mohs surgery for basal cell carcinoma above my right upper lip. Doc takes a Sharpie out and makes a diamond pattern then hands me a mirror. "What's that?" "That's where I'm going to cut you" Oh. He leaves and the male nurse explains that in order to have a smooth surface after the surgery it had to be done that way. Straight cuts leave lumps. Ok. Before he sewed me back up, he cut right above my lip down to the corner of my mouth. I suppose to tug away any lumps after he filled the incision. Brilliant job.


Last fall I had a melanoma stage 1-B removed from left cheek. During office visit, that doc makes a circle about the size of a Susan B Anthony dollar on my cheek with a Sharpie. Told me the closing procedure was to tug up from the rear in a circular pattern to smooth out the skin. Can't tug down from the eye. Before the operation, he takes out the Sharpie again and shows the OR team where he will cut. Only this time he draws about a 4" arc back from the melanoma which was the line he used to close the incision after he was done removing the melanoma. Uhh, doc, you didn't explain that to me in the office. Looked like hell when he did it, but it's settled down & scar is fading some. Eh. It's all good.