Frederic Edward Mohs (March 1, 1910 – July 2, 2002) was an American physician and

general surgeon General surgery is a surgical specialty that focuses on alimentary canal and abdominal contents including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, appendix and bile ducts, and often the thyroid g ...

who developed the

Mohs micrographic surgery Mohs surgery, developed in 1938 by a general surgeon, Frederic E. Mohs, is microscopically controlled surgery used to treat both common and rare types of skin cancer. During the surgery, after each removal of tissue and while the patient waits, ...

(MMS) technique in 1938 to remove

skin cancer Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the skin. They are due to the development of abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. There are three main types of skin cancers: basal-cell skin cancer (BCC) ...

lesions while still a medical student at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

. The Mohs procedure is considered the best method for treating certain types of

, because it has very high cure rates for even high-risk lesions, combined with maximal preservation of healthy tissues.

Early life

Mohs was born in

Burlington, Wisconsin Burlington is a city in Racine and Walworth counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, with the majority of the city located in Racine County. The population of the city was 11,047 as of the 2020 census. History Prior to the arrival of Europea ...

. His father died when he was 3 months old, and the family moved to Madison, where his mother ran a boarding house. After initially considering a career as a radio engineer, he switched to medical studies in college.

Medical career

Mohs began developing his treatment in the 1930s, experimenting on rats, puppies, and other animals. The breakthrough came when he discovered that applying a combination

zinc chloride Zinc chloride is the name of inorganic chemical compounds with the formula ZnCl2 and its hydrates. Zinc chlorides, of which nine crystalline forms are known, are colorless or white, and are highly soluble in water. This salt is hygroscopic and e ...

and

bloodroot ''Sanguinaria canadensis'', bloodroot, is a perennial, herbaceous flowering plant native to eastern North America. It is the only species in the genus ''Sanguinaria'', included in the poppy family Papaveraceae, and is most closely related to ' ...

paste to malignant rat skin tissue allowed it to be removed surgically and examined under a microscope. He treated his first human patient on June 23, 1936. Mohs spent his working life at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

. Mohs first tried to publish his findings and encouraged surgeons to learn the procedure. This was largely unsuccessful, as many surgeons were not comfortable learning skin pathology and laboratory techniques.

Dermatologist Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist is a specialist medica ...

s, who are well trained in

dermatopathology Dermatopathology (from Greek , ''derma'' 'skin' + , ''pathos'' 'fate, harm' + , ''-logia'' 'study of') is a joint subspecialty of dermatology and pathology or surgical pathology that focuses on the study of cutaneous diseases at a microscopic and m ...

, and who treat skin cancers on a daily basis, quickly embraced the procedure. Today, most Mohs procedures are performed by dermatologists, although a small number of

plastic surgeon Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniof ...

otolaryngologist Otorhinolaryngology ( , abbreviated ORL and also known as otolaryngology, otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (ORL–H&N or OHNS), or ear, nose, and throat (ENT)) is a surgical subspeciality within medicine that deals with the surgical a ...

s, and

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in t ...

s are also practicing and using the procedure as well. Mohs' technique was later modified by Perry Robins in the 1970s, using fresh-tissue frozen

histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vi ...

. Rather than using the anesthetic Mohs paste, local anesthetic is used. The fresh skin specimen is then mounted on a

cryostat A cryostat (from ''cryo'' meaning cold and ''stat'' meaning stable) is a device used to maintain low cryogenic temperatures of samples or devices mounted within the cryostat. Low temperatures may be maintained within a cryostat by using various r ...

, and frozen sections are examined instead of the Mohs paste-fixed sections. This method is now commonly referred to as

Mohs surgery Mohs surgery, developed in 1938 by a general surgeon, Frederic E. Mohs, is microscopically controlled surgery used to treat both common and rare types of skin cancer. During the surgery, after each removal of tissue and while the patient waits, ...

, and occasionally ''chemosurgery'', in reference to the Mohs paste that Mohs initially used.

Personal life

In 1943 Mohs married Mary Ellen Reynolds, who died in 1995. Mohs died at his home in Madison, Wisconsin on July 2, 2002, at the age of 92.Obituary, The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI), July 2, 2002 He was survived by two sons, Frederic and Thomas, and a daughter, Jane Schimming.

References

American surgeons Cancer researchers 1910 births 2002 deaths University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health alumni 20th-century surgeons {{US-physician-stub