When excising a lesion, the physician attempts to remove it completely by using a scalpel to cut the shape of an ellipse around the lesion. Leaving an elliptical wound, rather than a circular wound, makes it easier to insert stitches. If a lesion is suspected to be cancerous, the physician will not cut directly around the lesion, but will attempt to also remove a healthy margin of tissue surrounding it. This is to ensure that no cancerous cells remain, which would allow the tumor to reappear.
