Preliminary Year Training Backgrounds of Mohs Micrographic Surgery Fellows Compared With Dermatology Residents: A Cross-sectional Analysis of Publicly Available Data

BACKGROUND: Dermatology residency requires completion of a preliminary internship year in internal medicine (IM), general surgery (GS), or a transitional year (TY). Whether internship background differs between residents who pursue Mohs micrographic surgery fellowship and those who do not is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To compare preliminary year training backgrounds of Mohs surgery fellows and general dermatology residents. METHODS: The authors performed a cross-sectional analysis of publicly available internship data for Mohs surgery fellows (2023-2025) and a random sample of US dermatology residents (2024-2025). Internship training was categorized as IM, GS, or TY. The prevalence of GS training was compared using chi-square analysis. RESULTS: The final cohorts included 231 Mohs fellows and 266 dermatology residents. Mohs fellows were significantly more likely to have completed GS internship or other prior surgical residency training compared with dermatology residents (6.1% vs 1.9%, p = .014). Distributions of IM and TY training were similar between groups. CONCLUSION: A small but statistically significant increase in surgical preliminary training was observed among Mohs fellows compared with dermatology residents. Internal medicine and TY internships remain the predominant pathways for Mohs fellowship preparation.