Apex Dermatology is fighting cancer, and curing it, right in the office

By Laura Briedis

One in five Americans will get skin cancer in their lifetime, as more people are diagnosed with skin cancer each year in the U.S. than all other cancers combined.

The good news, however, is that skin cancer is preventable and treatable. In fact, the five-year survival rate for people whose melanoma is detected before it spreads to the lymph nodes is 99%.

Leading the fight against skin cancer is Apex Dermatology.

With 13 offices in Northeast Ohio, spanning from Avon to Ashtabula and down south to Canton, Apex’s skilled dermatologists and Mohs surgeons are helping to prevent and cure cancer.

“We are transforming lives through healthy skin,” says Apex Dermatology founder Dr. Jorge Garcia-Zuazaga, who was a U.S. Marine Corps flight surgeon and completed his dermatologic surgery fellowship at Harvard Medical School before starting his own dermatology practice in 2011. “Our three fellowship-trained Mohs surgeons have performed a combined 70,000 Mohs surgeries over the past decade.”

The gold standard for skin cancer treatment, Mohs surgery is a meticulous technique where the surgeon cuts a small margin of the cancer and processes the tissue in the office lab to look at the skin cells to determine if the cancer is all removed, cutting off small layers one at a time until it is gone. The procedure usually takes less than two hours and is done in the comfort of an office setting.

“Mohs surgery gives you the best cure rate while removing the least amount of healthy skin and minimizing scars,” explains Dr. Alison Durham, a Mohs surgeon who joined Apex last year after working on faculty at the University of Michigan for nine years.

Wherever you live in Northeast Ohio, there is an Apex office within a half-hour drive and patients can usually schedule surgery within days.

“Unlike most other cancers that are not detected until symptoms arise, skin cancer is visual so we can catch it early,” says Dr. Patrick Killian, one of the Mohs surgeons on staff. “That is what I love about dermatology. Instead of managing a chronic problem, we can actually cure it. The vast majority of skin cancers are easily treated if found early.”

According to Dr. Durham, patients should do a skin self-exam once a month at home and have an annual cancer screening in the office.

Though the doctors have a trained eye and know what to look for, patients also can help detect suspicious spots by watching for the “ABCDEs of melanoma.” Look for asymmetry, irregular borders with jagged or notched edges, spots with multiple colors, a diameter that exceeds the size of a pencil eraser and any areas that are evolving—either by getting larger, bleeding, crusting, itching, shrinking or becoming bumpy.

At Apex Dermatology, there is a SPOTcheck program that guarantees a same-day appointment for any patient with a suspicious lesion.

“When patients are in a doctor’s office and hear the ‘c’ word, they usually get anxious, so our job is to reassure them and let them know we have performed thousands of procedures with good outcomes,” Dr. Durham says.

Apex Dermatology has 13 locations to serve Northeast Ohio. To schedule an appointment in your area, call 833-279-SKIN(7546) or visit ApexSkin.com.