Chapter 4 Curettage and Cautery
Common indications
Curettage and cautery is an effective technique for eradicating superficial basal cell carcinomas and benign superficial skin lesions such as molluscum contagiosum. Suspicious lesions can be confirmed with either a shave biopsy or a punch biopsy before the procedure, or a shave biopsy can be performed as the first step of the curettage and cautery procedure. This procedure should not be done for lesions that have advanced through the dermis (Figure 4-1).
Equipment
The equipment consists of a surgical marker, a skin curette, and an electrosurgical device that is capable of cautery. Either a ball tip electrode or a blunt tip electrode is used for the cautery phases (Figure 4-2).
