Mohs is skin-cancer surgery, most often on the face — and for most people, the hardest part of the day is the waiting, not the shopping.
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Roughly 9,500 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with skin cancer every day — a figure the American Academy of Dermatology and Dartmouth-Hitchcock's own Mohs handbook independently confirm — and Mohs surgery cures up to 99% of primary tumors, per the American College of Mohs Surgery (ACMS). What it doesn't do is fit a normal appointment slot: most cases need one to three passes of tissue removal and microscope review, so the answer to “what should I buy” starts with “not much.” One thing almost everyone wants on day one — a small ice pack — plus two that depend on your situation: a head-elevation wedge if your surgery is on your head, face, or neck, and silicone scar tape once the incision has sealed, days later.
Every fact here comes from six hospital, academic, and professional-society sources — ACMS, Memorial Sloan Kettering, UCLA Dermatology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, University of Mississippi Medical Center, and Northwell Health — not a surgeon's marketing blog. how we choose →
What the day actually looks like
This is the part almost nobody else tells you plainly, and it's the reason this page exists: four independent hospital and academic sources — not one, four — describe the exact same reality.
The fact
Mohs surgery can take anywhere from about one hour to ten or more, with most cases finishing in approximately four hours — and there's no way to know in advance which it will be.
ACMS, the professional society for Mohs surgeons, puts it plainly to its own patients: “Play it safe and clear your schedule on surgery day.” The reason: your surgeon examines each layer of removed tissue under a microscope before deciding whether another pass is needed, and that lab step can't be rushed or predicted.
Clear your entire day. Don't schedule anything after, and don't expect a fixed end time — UCLA's own instructions: “we cannot predict exactly how long you will be here.”
Pack your own food. Eat breakfast beforehand, and bring snacks or lunch. Memorial Sloan Kettering tells patients there's a refrigerator on-site to store it, if needed.
Bring something to occupy the wait. A book or reading material — UCLA and Dartmouth-Hitchcock both name this specifically.
Bring a companion, and arrange a driver. Especially for surgery around the eyes, hands, or feet, where post-op swelling or bandages can affect vision — UCLA's own reasoning.
Wear comfortable, loose, front-opening clothing you don't mind getting a little soiled — Dartmouth-Hitchcock's own suggestion, and something almost everyone already owns.
“Be prepared for significant ‘down time’ during surgery when your surgeon is in the nearby laboratory examining the tissue under the microscope. You will be expected to stay in the immediate surgical area/waiting room for safety reasons. Bring something to do. Bring a companion.”
— Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Mohs Micrographic Surgery Patient Handbook
None of this needs a new purchase — a book, snacks from your own kitchen, a phone. A portable charger comes up constantly on surgeon-practice blogs for this exact scenario, but no hospital or academic source we read names it, so it's not on this checklist as a hospital-backed pick — bring one if you want, just know it's common sense, not a citation.
The 2 things worth buying
One universal, two that depend on your situation and your timing — see each card's own note.
Because two independent hospital sources give the same instruction for facial and head sites: sleep with your head elevated, and the swelling comes down easier.
02The head-elevation wedge — head, face, or neck sites only
Bekweim Adjustable-Height Bed Wedge Pillow, 12 Inch
A steady incline for sleeping — skip it if your surgery site is on an arm, hand, leg, or foot instead.
✓University of Mississippi Medical Center: "If your surgery was involving your head or face, you should sleep with you head elevated on two pillows."
✓Dartmouth-Hitchcock's own handbook gives near-identical guidance independently, for the same head/face situation.
✓For an extremity site instead, both sources say to elevate the limb itself — no product needed for that case, just your own arrangement.
How we chose it: The same wedge we recommend in the shoulder surgery and facelift guides — a steady torso-and-head incline, not a leg-elevation pillow.
One flaw (not a dealbreaker): Two pillows, or a borrowed recliner, work fine too — buy this only if neither sits right in your bedroom.
Because a named surgical director's own patient guidance is the most specific citation we found: silicone tape, nightly, for about six weeks — but not until the wound has closed.
03Silicone scar tape — a later purchase, once the incision seals
Mederma Medical Grade Silicone Scar Sheets, 4 Count
Not a day-1 buy — add it to your list for once the incision has sealed, usually a couple of days after surgery.
✓Dr. Bhuvanesh Singh, surgical director of the Skin Cancer Program at Northwell Cancer Institute: "Apply it at night for about six weeks and protect it from the sun during the day."
✓Same source: "You can buy it online and use it once the incision has sealed (usually after the first couple of days)."
✓Good to know: Dr. Singh names silicone TAPE specifically. This pick is a silicone SHEET — the same FDA-regulated device category (Elastomer, Silicone, For Scar Management, product code MDA) but a different physical form. Cut to fit if you want a closer match to "tape."
How we chose it: Mederma is one of the brands a hospital thyroid-surgery handout (University of Mississippi Medical Center) names for silicone scar sheets. The box holds four 1.4 x 3 inch sheets; the listing says you can cut them to size and reuse each one for up to 21 days. See the full comparison page for a larger size.
One flaw (not a dealbreaker): This is the one item on the checklist without a same-procedure citation for the exact form factor — see the tape-vs-sheet note above. If an exact silicone-tape product matters to you, ask a pharmacist for one by that name.
Recovery tip: Dartmouth-Hitchcock's own handbook names a specific technique for later, not a product: once your scar is past 2 months old, gently massaging any firm area 3 times a day, 3 minutes each time, can help it soften — don't start before 2 months, and it can help up to 6 months out.
Even later — once you're healed enough for sun
Not a day-1 item, and we don't have a product to link here right now — the guidance is still worth stating.
Sun protection, without a linked product: Dr. Singh's own instructions pair silicone tape with daytime sun protection over it, and the American Academy of Dermatology separately recommends a broad-spectrum sunscreen, SPF 30 or higher, as standard advice for anyone who has had skin cancer. This is weaker support than we want before linking a product (it rests on a pairing instruction plus general prevention advice, not a dated hospital discharge instruction), and the one sunscreen we looked at, the same one the facelift guide left unlinked, still can't be reliably bought on Amazon. Any broad-spectrum, fragrance-free mineral sunscreen, SPF 30 or higher, fits what's described here; we're not linking a specific one yet.
What we skipped
What this recovery doesn't need, and what a real disagreement between hospitals means for one item on this list.
Where hospitals disagree
Hospitals differ on whether to use antibiotic ointment or plain petroleum jelly on a healing Mohs wound — this page doesn't pick a side, and links no product for either.
University of Mississippi Medical Center and Dr. Bhuvanesh Singh (Northwell) both instruct antibiotic ointment. Dartmouth-Hitchcock's own handbook says the opposite: “We do not recommend... antibiotic ointments to your wounds,” and instructs plain petroleum jelly instead. Follow your own discharge sheet over a general rule — full breakdown, with every quote, on the wound-care page.
No walkers, canes, commodes, or bathroom-safety equipment on this list. Every source we read describes the physical restriction as local to the wound (don't lift heavy, don't sweat heavily, elevate the site) — not whole-body mobility-limiting the way a joint replacement is. Padding this guide with unrelated DME just to look fuller would misrepresent that.
Skip a recliner purchase. No source we read recommends one specifically for Mohs — unlike the mobility-limited guides on this site, nothing here requires sleeping upright in a chair rather than a bed.
Gauze, nonstick dressing, and paper tape come up in a couple of these hospital instructions, but never as a branded recommendation — basic first-aid versions work, and most people already have some at home.
Skip a portable phone charger as a "hospital-recommended" buy. It's useful for a multi-hour wait, and shows up constantly on surgeon-practice blogs, but no hospital or academic source we read names it — bring one if you like, just don't mistake it for a cited pick.
Go deeper
Two follow-up pages cover what comes up next for this surgery specifically — the coverage question, and the full wound-care picture, disagreements included.
This is an equipment and cost-coverage guide, not medical advice. It doesn't cover which wound-care product to use, pain management, infection signs beyond a hospital's own quoted "call us if" line, or any clinical decision that should come from your surgeon. Follow your own discharge instructions over anything here — hospitals disagree on some specifics (see "What we skipped" above), and your surgeon's instructions are the ones that apply to you.
See the full printable checklist — all 7 items ↓
Everything on this guide, in one list — the 3 picks, the later item with no linked product, and what's free, skipped, or a real hospital disagreement. This is what prints when you use the button up top.
The full Mohs surgery recovery checklist
Item
Category
Status
Small ice pack
Essential — day 1, everyone
Buy
Head-elevation wedge (or 2 pillows)
Essential — head/face/neck sites only
Buy — or free, with pillows
Silicone scar tape/sheet
Later — once incision seals, ~6 weeks nightly
Buy, not day 1
Broad-spectrum mineral sunscreen, SPF 30+
Even later — once healed
No pick yet — any SPF 30+ mineral sunscreen
Antibiotic ointment OR petroleum jelly
Wound care, day 1 through healing
Ask your surgeon — hospitals disagree
Gauze / nonstick dressing / paper tape
Borrow or skip
Likely already own
Walker, cane, commode, bathroom-safety equipment
Borrow or skip
Skip — not mobility-limiting
The short version: what Medicare covers here
The coverage story
Mohs micrographic surgery (CPT codes 17311-17315) is a covered Medicare Part B physician service when medically necessary — a real, cited benefit, not a DME/equipment story.
What isn't covered: elective cosmetic scar revision after the cancer is removed, excluded by federal statute (Social Security Act Sec. 1862(a)(10)) the same way any purely cosmetic procedure is. None of this checklist's three picks — the ice pack, the wedge, or the scar tape — carry a Medicare billing code either; none are separately reimbursable regardless of a prescription.
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