Stage one melanoma surgery consists of the simple, in-office removal of the infected cells by a dermotologists. If the cancer has spread beyond .08mm thickness, the removal will consist of a higher-tier melanoma surgery.
The removal of stage two and three melanomas are performed by surgeons, or surgical oncologists, not dermatologists. Additionally, sentinel lymph node biopsy will likely be performed on all patients with clinically negative nodes to see if the melanoma has spread to the draining sentinel node (the first node), which will differentiate stage two from stage three disease.
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The removed tissue and lymph nodes during melanoma surgery are sent to the pathologist who will measure the melanoma for depth and the presence of clear margins. That means the pathologist will make sure that between the end of the melanoma and the end of the pathology specimen there are plenty of normal cells that do not contain any melanoma.
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