With the rate of skin cancer soaring, particularly in Florida, protecting the health of your skin has never been more important.

The physicians of Treasure Coast Dermatology specialize in detecting and treating skin cancer, the most common type of cancer in the country.

Drs. Tim Ioannides and Jonathan Sanders are dedicated to providing the best in patient care.

Treasure Coast Dermatology offers both surgical and non-surgical treatment options including Mohs micrographic surgery.

"Mohs surgery is a highly specialized technique for precise, minimally invasive surgical treatment of skin cancer," said Dr. Ioannides.

"Mohs surgery has the highest surgical cure rate for both basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma," said Dr. Sanders. "For basal cell carcinoma, the technique produces approximately a 99 percent cure rate."

The Mohs procedure is named after Frederick Mohs, a physician who developed the surgery in the 1930s at the University of Wisconsin. It involves removing successive layers of tissue and immediately examining them with a microscope, so that all roots and extensions of the cancerous lesion can be eliminated.

"If cancer cells are still evident in a layer of tissue, another thin layer is excised during the same procedure," said Dr. Ioannides. "The process is repeated until all the cancerous cells are removed. In addition to removing the cancerous cells in the affected area, this process preserves as much healthy tissue as possible around the site of the lesion."

"That is the key issue," added Dr. Sanders. "This is the most 'tissue-sparing' procedure for the treatment of skin cancer. We know we are not taking out more tissue than we should, so our patients will save as much normal healthy skin as possible."

Dermatologists who perform Mohs surgery must have specialized skills in dermatology and dermatologic surgery.

Training for the Mohs procedure is available through select residency programs, specialized fellowships and intensive training courses. Drs. Ioannides and Sanders are both certified in Mohs as fellow members of the American Society for Mohs Surgery.

"Mohs surgery is an outpatient procedure performed right in the office under a local anesthetic," said Dr. Ioannides. "The entire Mohs procedure may take more time than some other procedures, but it has the highest cure rate of any surgical treatment for skin cancer.

"Most patients find the higher cure rate and better results worth the wait."

Drs. Tim Ioannides and Jonathan Sanders are board certified by the American Board of Dermatology. They can be reached at (877) 870-3376(DERM).