The MOHS surgery technique, also called MMS (Mohs Micrographic Surgery) was discovered by accident Dr. Mohs while still a student at the University of Wisconsin Medical School.
He found that microscopic examination of live tissue from rats demonstrated all of the architectural features of tissues fixed in formaldehyde, and it allowed pathology evaluation of fresh tissue material. The lone practitioner of his self-made technique in the 40’s and 50’s, he used this method to effectively removed eyelid cancers in a way that allowed 100% cure, while limiting the tissue damage and maintaining the maximum amount of eyelid tissue. In fact, a 96 year old patient of mine told me of her interaction with Dr. Mohs for just such a surgery done on herself, when she lived in Chicago. She searched and searched for someone who would not leave her eyelid deformed…and Dr. Mohs was her savior.
Dr. Mohs trained all of the original surgeons in this technique in the 50’s and 60’s, and now, MOHS surgery is so commonly done that his name is mentioned multiple times per week in my office, and no doubt many times daily in every derm office int he country.
Dr. Mohs died at 92, in 2002, a pioneer who ‘practiced in the wilderness’ until the world beat a path to his door.