Mohs Surgical Procedure being conducted at North Shore clinic
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – From the time Dr. Jason Guillot decided he was ready to open his own medical clinic, he had thoughts of doing it differently—and better—than the conventional approach to health care.
When he was ready to open his first South Louisiana Ear, Nose & Throat (SLENT) clinic in St. Tammany Parish, he took his time and sought the services of an architect who specialized in drawing plans for medical clinics. It was all about creating the absolute best clinic experience possible for his patients.
Consequently, when you walk into the large SLENT clinic in Mandeville, it doesn’t feel much at all like you are going to the doctor.
“We wanted a warm atmosphere that didn’t feel like a doctor’s office,” he said. “And from the time we opened our doors, the growth has been phenomenal, which seems to show we did it right.”
SLENT now operates with a clinic in Slidell as well, along with a Metairie and Hammond clinic, with a practice and a staff that is as efficient as the best doctor’s office you can find.
Beyond the feel and look of his clinic, Guillot also wanted to stay on the cutting edge of medical procedures and technology, something that couldn’t be more evident than the incorporation of the Mohs surgical procedure that he offers when serious skin cancer removal procedures are needed.
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer, with one in five people expected to develop it, but, it is also highly treatable when addressed as early as possible. Most people go to a dermatologist, who usually begins by removing the lesions off the skin with liquid nitrogen, essentially freezing the spot.
However, if the cancer is not treated it slowly grows and goes deeper into the skin. That is when a small, in-office surgical procedure is used to cut the cancer out. It relies on a Mohs-trained dermatologist visually cutting to what he believes are the margins of the cancer. This Mohs dermatologist then takes the specimen to his/her respective pathology and verifies the cancer was completely removed using microscopy.
If the initial excision shows he did not completely get all of the cancer, then the procedure must be repeated—sometimes several times, which can create a serious problem when the cancer is in highly-visible areas such as the face or hands, and the final result is several rounds of removal.
That is why Mohs surgery is gaining popularity, and also the support of insurance companies, since it limits the recurrence rate and the size of the defect that can become a real confidence problem to someone who might have a large area of their face involved.
Guillot saw the increased value in Mohs surgery and now has teamed with surgical specialists to perform the procedure, followed by his expertise as a Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon, who repairs the damage in a way to leave the best looking result possible.
The advantage in Mohs surgery is that only one layer of skin is removed to start, and then it is immediately checked in a laboratory to see if margins around the cancer are clean—and all of the cancer was removed. Mohs allows the surgeon to take only one layer of skin at a time, keeping it to the most minimal skin removal possible. Then, lab experts check the layer to see if he has gotten all the cancer. If not, the surgeon takes one more layer of skin—the least possible—until the lab confirms the cancer is completely gone. This procedure ensures the least amount of skin removal possible.
“The Mohs procedure is so fantastic because it minimizes the amount of cutting in areas that I call ‘high-priced real estate,’ meaning your face or your hands. In some cases of removing cancer the previous way, a physician might take more skin than is necessary, just to be sure they got it. But even then, you leave the clinic and wait for a biopsy report in a week to determine if all the cancer was removed,” Guillot explained. “And if it still wasn’t enough, you are going back for another procedure.
“Mohs guarantees the absolute least amount of skin is removed, and then I am a facial plastic surgeon who has the skills to sew you up in a way to show as little effects of the surgery as possible,” he added.
Guillot grew up in Baton Rouge and went to medical school at Ole Miss where he sought more education than most physicians so he could become Board Certified in Head & Neck Surgery, Facial Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery. He is also specialized in Hair Restoration Surgery.
When he was ready to open his own clinic in 2010, he decided the North Shore was exactly what he was looking for.
“It was a little while after Katrina and we certainly benefitted from so many people moving to the North Shore,” he said. “Our practice grew so fast that I sought an old friend, Dr. James Connolly, to come back home from Florida and join me. Then in 2017 we built this practice.”
Guillot began SLENT all by himself but has grown to the point of having four doctors, five audiologists and a nurse practitioner, not to mention a large staff of other technicians and employees.
“I think a lot of the success and growth is because we do our best to hire employees who have our vision, and that is to serve the population and do it by example. Even our docs have to park in the worst spots around our building,” he said with a laugh.
The staff, particularly the physicians and specialists, have largely stayed on board since joining SLENT because Guillot offers opportunity to become an investor as part of the hiring package.
“Our practice, from the look of it to the procedures we offer, are about helping our patients maintain their self-confidence and finish up looking their best,” he said. “Just coming to the doctor brings anxiety so our waiting room and employees are all here to help you relax.”
SLENT has grown so much that they now offer all ear, nose & throat services, as well as offering Botox, facial plastic surgery of all kinds, sleep apnea services, and hair restoration.
For more information, you can find them online at: Southlouisianamd.com