What role does surgery play in the diagnosis or treatment of skin cancer?

The best way to do it is through a surgical biopsy where you remove a portion of the skin cancer and send it to a pathologist to look at. Surgery plays a very large role in treatment of skin cancer. Most skin cancers are surgically treated, either by excision, they can be surgically excised by removing them completely. Another way that typically is done by dermatology is called Mohs surgery, where they shave the skin cancer off until they have negative margins.