Mohs, biopsies, excisions, and eyelid surgery — what actually happens in the room.
Three different tools, three different depths, three different scars — and one decision rule underneath all of it: what they suspect determines how deep they have to sample.
The same operation, by the same surgeon, on the same morning, can be a covered medical necessity or several thousand dollars of elective spending. What separates them is a test result — and it is a genuinely honest line.
You want it gone in five minutes. Your dermatologist wants a specimen. That single disagreement is the entire safety architecture of the appointment — and a vaporised mole can never be diagnosed.
The scalpel is the least remarkable part of the procedure. What makes it work is a microscope in the next room and a surgeon who refuses to close until the margin is actually clear.
It looks worst at week eight, which is exactly when everyone judges it and books a revision consult. Almost nobody is told that the ugly phase is the scar working, not the scar failing.