Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) has become the gold standard for treating many forms of primary and recurrent contiguous skin cancers and offers the highest cure rates and maximum tissue conservation compared with other modalities. Developed by Dr Frederic E. Mohs in the 1930s, it was initially called chemosurgery and used zinc chloride paste in a process called fixed tissue technique. Although this technique had high cure rates, it could take days to complete, and it gradually gave way to fresh tissue technique, renamed MMS. Now, MMS is practiced widely as part of a multidisciplinary approach for treating skin cancer.