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Our specialist surgeons are highly trained in the assessment and surgical excision of skin lesions and soft-tissue “lumps and bumps”. These can often be excised in the rooms under local anesthesia.
Skin Lesions: including skin cancers such as Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) and Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC)
Many skin lesions, including suspected skin cancers, can be safely removed under local anaesthetic in our consulting rooms. These are all sent for testing to exclude or confirm cancer, and to ensure that excision is complete.
In some cases, particularly when a skin graft or more complex reconstruction is required, admission to hospital and surgery under anaesthetic may be recommended.
Lumps and Bumps
Benign soft-tissue “lumps and bumps” commonly removed in the rooms under local anaesthetic by our specialist surgeons include the following:
⦁ Sebaceous (epidermal inclusion) cysts
⦁ Lipomas (fatty lumps)
What to Expect
Most skin lesion and lump removals are performed as minor outpatient procedures performed in the rooms under local anaesthetic. During your care, your surgeon will:
⦁ Carefully assess the lesion or lump and confirm whether removal is appropriate
⦁ Perform the procedure in a safe and controlled environment
⦁ Close the skin with sutures (stitches), which usually need to be removed after 10–14 days, depending on the location
⦁ Send all removed tissue for histopathological examination to confirm the diagnosis
Histopathology and margin clearance
If a lesion is confirmed to be cancerous, the pathology report will assess whether the margins are clear (meaning excision has been complete).
Occasionally, histopathological examination shows that the margins are involved. When this occurs, a re-excision (a wider and deeper removal) may be recommended to ensure complete removal.
Your surgeon will discuss your histopathology result and margin clearance with typically 1-2 weeks after your excision. This discussion may be face to face or over the phone.