Who invented Mohs surgery for basal cell carcinoma?

Dr. Frederic Edward Mohs, a surgeon, invented Mohs surgery for basal cell carcinoma in the 1930s and first performed the procedure on human cancer patients in 1936, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. Originally called chemosurgery, the micrographic technique removes skin cancer while preserving a maximum amount of healthy tissue.

Dr. Mohs was 26 years old when he first performed the surgery that has become the most accurate tissue-saving technique for treating skin cancer, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. The cure rate for Mohs surgery is 98 to 99 percent for patients with primary lesions of basal cell carcinoma, one of the most common cancers in the United States.