melanoma and skin cancer docs

[FutureDoc4]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi everyone,

Just curious if people could answer this question for me. I am really interested in becoming a dermatologist that focuses on skin cancer (obviously Moh's surgery etc). However, I recently came across an attending that was a surgical oncologist that strictly does melanomas and skin cancers. Does anyone know why someone would go to a Surgical oncologist vs a Mohs trained dermatologist? Is there an advantage of one path over another or the types of skin cancers they can treat? (I definitely want clinic time with pts besides surgery time, so I don't think that path would be for me, I am just curious).

Thanks.

 

[MOHS_01]

Hi everyone,

Just curious if people could answer this question for me. I am really interested in becoming a dermatologist that focuses on skin cancer (obviously Moh's surgery etc). However, I recently came across an attending that was a surgical oncologist that strictly does melanomas and skin cancers. Does anyone know why someone would go to a Surgical oncologist vs a Mohs trained dermatologist? Is there an advantage of one path over another or the types of skin cancers they can treat? (I definitely want clinic time with pts besides surgery time, so I don't think that path would be for me, I am just curious).

Thanks.

Very different fields, generally with very different practice environments. Both would be great career choices, but quite different. Generally speaking, Mohs surgeons will defer excision of tumors that may benefit from sentinel node staging/procedure. Your typical nonmelanoma skin cancer does not require this. Mohs is predominantly, if not exclusively, outpatient. There would be a significant inpatient component to surg onc. Frankly, if you go through surg onc training and limit yourself exclusively to NMSC and melanoma you are wasting good training.

Your best bet would be to follow around both of them for an extended period of time to see which you like best.