Prevention of complications in dermatosurgery

Dermatosurgery has become ever more popular and important in recent years, mostly due to the increasing prevalence of skin malignancies. It also encompasses a wide variety of methods to remove or modify skin tissue for numerous cosmetic reasons. Nowadays, many dermatologists provide complete dermatologic care for their patients, including surgery. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the possible complications and to be able to manage them properly. Complications in cutaneous surgery are not very often, but they can be serious and worrisome including bleeding, infections, allergic reactions, syncope, wound dehiscence, necrosis, and others. In this article special attention is given to bleeding, which is the most common complication in this field. The best way to reduce the number of possible complications is to recognize patients at risk. Thus, complete history and physical examination are required before performing any dermatosurgical operation.