Collaborative care, individualized treatment

Maimonides Health offers comprehensive services for diagnosing and treating all skin cancers. Our multidisciplinary, board-certified team of dermatologists, oncologists, pathologists, and surgeons provide a full range of services to identify and treat skin cancer.

Maimonides is also home to Brooklyn’s only interdisciplinary Melanoma Center, offering regular screening for high-risk patients and a full range of advanced treatments for any stage of melanoma.

No matter the skin cancer type, our specialists work collaboratively to develop an individualized treatment plan for each patient. These plans may include surgery, the latest immunotherapies—including those in clinical trials—and reconstructive surgery to keep you looking and feeling your best.

Book a skin cancer screening appointment online
Call to schedule: 718-283-6300

Risk factors for skin cancer

People with fair skin are 20 times more likely to develop skin cancer than people with darker skin. White people with red or blonde hair and fair skin that easily freckles or burns have the highest risk for skin cancer.

Other risk factors include:

• Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays and sunburn
• Family history of skin cancer
• Immune suppression (either caused by illnesses affecting the immune system, such as HIV, or medicines that suppress the immune system, such as those taken after an organ transplant)
• Moles
• Occupational exposure

Screening for skin cancer

Skin cancer can be detected and treated early, which is why it is important to check your skin monthly. The American Cancer Society recommends a skin examination by a doctor every three years for people 20 to 40 years old and every year for anyone over 40.

Talk with your doctor about anything unusual on your skin, including moles that:

• Are asymmetrical
• Are wider than a quarter inch
• Have differing shades of tan, brown, or black or patches of red, blue, or white
• Have ragged or uneven, unusual borders

Book a skin cancer screening appointment online
Call to schedule: 718-283-6300

Diagnosing skin cancer

To test for skin cancer, your dermatologist will take a skin sample from the suspicious area for analysis (biopsy). If the biopsy is positive, the dermatologist may order a chest x-ray, computed tomography (CT) scan, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to see if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

Treatments for skin cancer

At Maimonides, we offer multidisciplinary, state-of-the art treatment for all skin cancers at any stage.

Most skin cancers can be treated with simple excision that is done as minor surgery with local anesthesia in an outpatient location. This includes Mohs surgery, a technique in which thin layers of tissue are removed and then examined microscopically to confirm that cancer is removed completely.

Mohs surgery preserves as much surrounding healthy tissue as possible, and it is often used when skin cancer appears on the face. It can also be used on other areas of the body when skin cancer has particular features, such as when a tumor surrounds a nerve (perineural invasion), or when a tumor extends far beyond what is seen by visual inspection alone (morpheaform growth pattern).

When skin cancer is detected early, simple excision or Mohs surgery can result in excellent patient outcomes. If the skin cancer is more advanced, other types of treatment may be necessary for optimal outcomes. For example, if a melanoma growth is thick, a sentinel lymph node biopsy may be needed to see if the cancer has spread beyond its original site.

Our oncologic surgeons have the expertise to help determine the extent of the skin cancer, or its stage, to inform the best course of treatment. Our cancer surgeons can perform more extensive surgeries than those that can be done in the outpatient setting.

In addition to sentinel node evaluation, imaging studies are often used to determine the extent of tumor spread. Maimonides offers whole-body imaging, including PET, MRI, and CT scans.

Our medical oncologists bring extensive expertise in immunotherapy and conventional chemotherapy to treat advanced or metastatic disease (cancer that has spread from its initial site to other sites in the body).

Additionally, our radiation oncologists are experts in using radiation therapy to treat skin cancer when surgery is not an option, for example if melanoma has spread to the brain.

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