Air Bubbles Surprise!

Mobile Mohs, Inc. strives to make our doctors happy. On this particular Mohs day, we think we went a little above and beyond. We know air bubbles on slides are frowned upon, but this phenomenon says otherwise :)

Ask a Mohs Tech...

Epi on the Inside?

This edition of Ask a Mohs Tech brings a light to a puzzling phenomenon, epidermis appearing where only the dermis should be. This can occur when a piece is exceptionally thin, allowing the minimal dermis to be cut through to reveal the epi above it. Another explanation could be that the epi was folded under the dermis during preparation, exposing the epi on the inside of the wafer in addition to the outside epi margin.

Life of a Mohs Surgeon

Dr. Fallon from Kaiser Downey served on a surgical team for a medical mission group called LAMP earlier this year. LAMP or Latin American Medical Providers, takes medical professionals to the city of Jalapa, Guatemala for a one week visit to provide medical service to the local community. Eighty volunteers make the trek, thirty to forty of which are doctors, performing everything from teeth cleaning to general surgery. The team uses a hospital wing in the city to conduct their practices, transforming their simple surroundings into a surgery center, pharmacy, and small lab. In '09, the team treated approximately 2,400 patients, performed 93 surgeries, and wrote around 5,000 prescriptions. Dr. Fallon found his experience so fullfilling that he has been there three times and hopes to continue in the future.

Newsletter edition just for our Doctors!

Look out fellow Mohs Surgeons, The Bridge newsletter is heading your way! Mobile Mohs, Inc is pleased to announce our 1st Doctor's edition newsletter. The Bridge will help us increase communication between our office and yours. The Standard, our technician based newsletter, has had such great feedback that we expect even more success with The Bridge.



Why send out a quarterly newsletter?
Our techs work directly in your office and our schedulers talk with you a number of times a week. Needless to say, your office is extremely important to us. We depend on one another to continue providing patients with excellent care. That excellent care relies on a great amount of trust on your part and The Bridge was created to reinforce that trust by showing you a little more of who Mobile Mohs, Inc is and what we are all about.



Mobile Mohs, Inc has been family owned and operated for more than thirty years and we hope this newsletter will help you feel a little more like part of our family.

Tim and Kathi Duffy
President & Vice President

2010 CalDerm Conference

Fess Parker's DoubleTree Hotel - Santa Barbara, CA

Mobile Mohs, Inc. Exhibits at the 2010 CalDerm Conference!

September 24, 25, & 26

Stop by our booth and ask how Mobile Mohs, Inc. can provide superior, frozen section slides for your practice! Whether you are new to Mohs or currently practicing Mohs, our technicians can provide a benefit in improved efficiency, accuracy, and turn-around time, as well as excellent customer service.

*FREE Bonus*

Fresh, Hot Popcorn just for visiting us!

Tina and Christina from our Mobile Mohs, Inc. Team

For conference details visit www.calderm.org

5 Skin Saving Tips

One minute scientists are telling us the sun, Vitamin D, is good for us, then the next minute we are supposed to stay out of the sun from the hours of 11am to 4pm. How one must do this, without being a hermit, is unanswerable. As Mohs technicians, we are faced with the reality of what too much sun exposure can do to skin over the years. It's not too late to start saving your skin now. With just a few minutes spent per day, there are ways of preventing skin cancer.

With the help of the American Academy of Dermatology website (aad.org) Here are 5 helpful skin saving tips:

1- Wear Sunscreen! Yes it's that easy, but make sure it has UVA/UVB with a minimum of SPF 30. UVA Rays are the aging rays and UVB rays are the burning rays. Excessive exposure to both can lead to skin cancer 1 Don't like the thick, sticky feeling? Sunscreen formula has come a long way over the years and now has oil free, sheer touch finishes built for every skin type!

Insider tip- Wearing Sunscreen can prevent early signs of wrinkles and age spots! 2 Yes, we will all have wrinkles one day, unless of course you go the botox/plastic surgery route, but we can stay younger looking longer by wearing sunscreen daily.

2- When outdoors from 11am to 4, try wearing sunglasses and a hat. You can still be fashionable while limiting your exposure to the sun. The Red lobster look is not in and never will be. Save yourself from red, flaky skin by covering up!

3- Say No to indoor tanning. Exposing yourself to ultra-violet light in a tiny booth is just absurd! The amount of radiation produced during indoor tanning in some cases can be stronger than the sun 3 Advanced skin care companies have made great fake tanning lotions and sprays that even add antioxidants, so you can still have a sun kissed glow without the skin cancer effects.

4- Healthy skin is beautiful skin. Spread the word by always keeping a mini sunscreen with you. You never know when the beach or pool might be calling your name...

5- There are other ways to get your daily amount of Vitamin D. Either from food(fish, milk, cheese) and/or vitamins 4 Discuss with your doctor which supplements will be good for you.

In the event that you happen to get a form of skin cancer in the future, be rest assured that Mobile Mohs, Inc. has your back (or face, hands, or feet...) processing high quality Mohs slides for your dermatologist....... WE KNOW MOHS

1-4
<www.aad.org>

How To Cut an Ear or Lip Wedge, by Tim Duffy

This is one of the easiest procedures for you to do as a Mohs Tech.

When you get an ear or lip wedge, think of it as a slice of pie- with a top crust, a bottom crust, and a filling inside. Because we want to see all the edges contiguous with the remaining ear or lip, we need to look at the edges that form the "pyramid" of the piecie of pie, but we do not need to see the "rounded" edge, since it is in space on the patient.


The drawing on the left represents the "top crust". The Blue area is the filling, and the "bottom crust" is below the filling.

(Drawing on the right) Simply bisect the triangle, ink the upper left crust edge one color and ink the lower left edge a different color. Do the same to the right side upper crust, and the right side lower crust for piece two.

Place the edges you just inked against the slide, and cut the specimen as if it were a normal Mohs layer.

Easy as pie!

Good Morning Mohs!

Mohs Surgery was featured on the May 12th episode of "Good Morning America." Sam Champion had his basal cell removed on live TV in New York.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/sam-champions-skin-cancer-treatment-10624222

Here is a great example of how every slide should be your best, even under pressure, because it could be featured on TV! Look at the poor stain quality, folded epidermis, and air bubbles. Shoulda called Mobile Mohs!

Video link and picture found on mohscollege.org

Welcome to the Mobile Mohs Blog!

Mobile Mohs, Inc. was founded by Tim Duffy in 1979 with the purpose and commitment to provide top tier portable lab services to dermatologists and surgeons. We provide expert histotechnicians and equipment without adding the cost of staffing and maintenance. Along the way, Tim pioneered several techniques to better service your practice, including the reverse mount and the "rapid" frozen H&E staining procedure. From our humble beginnings, our goal has always been to provide clear, clean, and fast slides.
With over 25 years of experience, we created this blog as a reference to other histotechicians who have questions and/or concerns. Here are some things you'll learn from our blog...

Mohs tips and techniques

Pictures of Good vs Poor Slides

Upcoming Mohs Conferences/Events

Meeting other fellow Mohs Techs

and much, much more!

We want to hear from you! To submit a question/comment or to just say hello, email us at service@mobilemohs.com

Save us in your Favorites to see upcoming entries on Mohs tips and great advice offered from our President, Tim Duffy!

WE KNOW MOHS