Physicians in General Surgery at Summit Medical Group treat a variety of illnesses or injuries that require surgery. Our highly qualified physicians have expertise in open as well as laparoscopic surgery. Depending on your needs, your physician will decide which approach is best for you.

For open surgery, your surgeon must make an opening, or incision, by cutting the skin and tissues. Open surgery incisions vary in size and depth depending on the type of surgery. How quickly you heal after open surgery depends on many factors, including the type of surgery as well as your overall health.

Laparoscopic surgery is often called minimally invasive surgery because it requires small (typically up to a half an inch) incisions. Small tubes containing a video camera and surgical tools are inserted though the incisions. The surgeon then uses the image from the video camera inside the body to perform the procedure. Patients who have laparoscopic procedures often heal more quickly and experience less pain than patients who have open surgical procedures. For this reason, laparoscopic surgery has become popular. Despite its advantages, laparoscopic surgery cannot be performed on everyone.

Other advantages with laparoscopic surgery include:

• Less bleeding
• Less risk of infection
• Smaller external scars
• Less internal scarring
• Quicker return to regular activities

Before and after you have open or laparoscopic surgery, your surgeon and nurse will explain how to care for your incision so that it heals quickly and properly.

If You Need Surgery to Remove Skin Cancer
If you have skin cancer and need to have it removed, we offer the latest in surgical techniques to manage and cure skin cancer with the least damage to healthy tissue.

Mohs micrographic surgery is considered the single most effective technique for removing skin cancer, including basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. An extremely precise method, it allows surgeons to remove a thin layer of tissue and examine it during rather than after surgery. As a result, surgeons know exactly when tissue is free of cancer cells so that healthy tissue is not removed unnecessarily.

Click here to learn more about Mohs micrographic surgery.