Preface

Clinical Cases in Dermatologic Surgery is envisaged as a very practical educational aid for all doctors practicing skin cancer surgery, particularly for the more difficult head and neck sites. The editors greatly enjoy teaching and have been instructing dermatology registrars and residents in similar advanced closure techniques for more than 25 years, along with teaching medical students and colleagues in other specialties. This book was first conceived by Duncan as a companion to the new second edition of Dermatologic Surgery: A manual of defect repair options (2023), which he edited together with contributing author, Leslie Storey, and in which Shyamala wrote a chapter on “Surgical complications and their management”. We have followed the same order of site-based sections and chapters as in Dermatologic Surgery to assist with cross-referencing and we would highly recommend perusal of this comprehensive and practical textbook and its associated videos for greater detail in any area of interest. Although this book’s origins are as a companion book, it is easily used as a standalone resource and may serve to “dip a toe” into advanced dermatologic surgery.

Clinical Cases in Dermatologic Surgery and Dermatologic Surgery are also published online on McGraw Hill’s new AccessWorldMed website https://accessworldmed.mhmedical.com/.

The problem-based format that we chose for this book is based upon the viva voce final exams undertaken by dermatology registrars in Australia, but it is widely applicable in everyday clinical practice. In each case, readers are presented with a defect or tumour, and are asked three to five questions on management, including initial reconstruction, precautions, after-care, management of complications and revision. The cases in this book may be done in any order as they do not rely upon assumed knowledge from previous cases. However, readers may enjoy seeing different approaches to similar defects within each section. We recommend reading the question and formulating the answer before progressing to the answer. It is worth remembering that surgery is practiced by individuals and there may be more than one correct approach to the problem. We have attempted to discuss alternative approaches and give a balanced overview of the options. References have been kept to a minimum in this book, with a greater review of the literature found in Dermatologic Surgery.

Thank you for reading this book. We welcome feedback from readers.