Curettage and Electrodesiccation

(Scraping and burning of the skin cancer.) Skin cancer cells do not have the regular cell-to-cell attachments of healthy skin cells. This allows them to be removed by scraping the skin where the cancer is with a curette (scraping device), leaving the surrounding non-cancerous skin intact. The area is then treated with an electric current to seal over blood vessels. The area may be treated with liquid nitrogen instead of the electric current. This is generally used for early skin cancers, especially superficial basal cell carcinoma and superficial squamous cell carcinoma. Melanoma would never be treated this way.

Note: Please click on the thumbnails below to display a larger image.