• Matthew J Lin, Danielle P Dubin, Cerrene N Giordano, David A Kriegel, and Hooman Khorasani.
• J Drugs Dermatol. 2020 May 1; 19 (5): 493-497.

BackgroundMohs micrographic surgery is a safe procedure with low rates of infection.ObjectiveTo establish current antibiotic prescribing practices amongst Mohs surgeons.Methods And Materials16-question survey sent to American College of Mohs Surgery members.Results305 respondents with collectively 7,634+ years of experience. The majority performed outpatient surgery (95.0%) and avoided oral or topical antibiotics for routine cases (67.7% and 62.8%, respectively). Prophylactic antibiotics were routinely prescribed for artificial cardiac valves (69.4%), anogenital surgery (53.0%), wedge excision (42.2%), artificial joints (41.0%), extensive inflammatory skin disease (40.1%), immunosuppression (38.9%), skin grafts (36.4%), leg surgery (34.2%), and nasal flaps (30.1%). A minority consistently swabbed the nares to check for staphylococcus aureus carriage (26.7%) and decolonized carriers prior to surgery (28.0%).ConclusionDisparity exists in antibiotic prescribing practices amongst Mohs surgeons. There may be under-prescription of antibiotics for high risk factors like nasal flaps, wedge excisions, skin grafts, anogenital/lower extremity site, and extensive inflammatory disease. Conversely, there may be over-prescription for prosthetic joints or cardiac valves. Increased guideline awareness may reduce post-operative infections and costs/side effects from antibiotic over-prescription. J Drugs Dermatol. 2020;19(5): doi:10.36849/JDD.2020.4695.

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