Wiki Shave Excision greater than 3cm

[scaddell]

Is there a CPT code for a shave excision of a malignant lesion that is greater than 3cm?

 

[thomas7331]

A shave isn't an excision - it's a different technique entirely. (See the CPT defintion: Shaving is the sharp removal by transverse incision or horizontal slicing to remove epidermal and dermal lesions without a full-thickness dermal excision).

Shave removals do not distinguish between benign or malignant. So if a lesion larger than 3 cm was shaved, you would use the corresponding shave code that has the description 'lesion diameter over 2.0 cm' (e.g. 11303, 11308 or 11313) which would apply for any lesion greater than 2.0 cm.