Because we are a surgical office there are many small procedures that we can do in our office under local anesthesia. Whenever it is appropriate we will offer this service to you. Typically these procedures only take 30 minutes or less and you are able to continue with your day without the bother or expense of taking a full day off from work to go to a hospital for a minor procedure. Since there is no sedation involved you are able to drive yourself to and from the appointment.
Please understand that these procedures have to be scheduled and are not done as “drop in” type visit. Typically you are seen for a short consultation so that we can get to know you and understand what needs to be done. In some cases we need to start antibiotics or hold some of your medications prior to the procedure ( particularly blood thinners). Occasionally we discover that the situation is more serious and a hospital based procedure is the more appropriate route to take.
When possible we use self-absorbing sutures, so for many of these procedures you don’t need to come back to see us unless you have a question or concern about the healing.
These procedures are offered as in-office services
Lipoma removal– these are fatty lumps under the skin that can create local pain and cosmetic deformity
Skin Lesions– most of the skin lesions we remove turn out to be benign but when appropriate the specimen is sent to pathology to confirm the diagnosis.
Scar revisions– in some people they have developed unusually prominent or painful scaring after surgery or and accident. We can usually help excising the old scar and closing the skin with plastic surgery techniques.
Sebaceous Cyst removal- these represent chronically obstructed oil glands on under the skin. We see them often on the back, torso and head. They can grow to be quite large and when they become infected they are very painful. These are easily recognized by their foul smelling drainage. People often have these cysts present for years and may have undergone prior procedures to “drain” them in other offices or emergency rooms. Unfortunately unless you actually remove the cyst completely it tends to come back.