If the cancer is not removed completely it can go deep into the skin and cause great harm. In order to remove your skin cancer, the doctor will first scrape the area with a spoon-like tool called a curette. The cancerous tissue is very soft, like a bad spot in an apple. The soft cancerous tissue spoons right out. The doctor knows when to stop because normal skin is firm or hard compared to the cancer.
Skin cancers are much larger than they appear on the surface of the skin.
What one sees on the skin surface is only the tip of the iceberg. It is not uncommon for the hole remaining after skin cancer removal to be the size of a nickel. Some patients have a hole the size of a quarter or larger after the skin cancer is removed. After the Cancer is Removed, a Large Hole Remains. The tissue removed will than be sent to a pathologist.