There are a number of skin lesions that require surgical removal.

Amongst the commonest lesions include:

• Sebaceous cyst
• Lipoma
• Moles
• Skin cancer.

The commonest type of skin cancers include:

• Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC)
• Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC)
• Melanoma.

Each lesion needs to be excised based on its pathophysiology.

The principal behind the excision is for complete excision of the lesion.

For lesions such as sebaceous cysts and lipomas, they are excised completely including the capsule surrounding the lesion.

For the skin cancers, the excision will include a surrounding margin of normal tissue.

Each lesion is marked preoperatively.

The incision will be placed (if possible) in the skin crease to ensure the best cosmetic result.

Once the lesion is removed, the wound is closed with multiple layers of sutures.

These procedures typically are done as day procedures—which means that patients will be admitted, operated on and be discharged all in the same day.

Patients will be discharged with a script for some analgesia and instruction for management of the dressing.

The Postoperative Care Consultant will be in contact in a few days after your discharge.