Prof. Dr. Falk Bechara

"Top medicine with love" - under this motto, the Katholisches Klinikum Bochum has carved out a first-class name for itself in providing healthcare to people throughout the Ruhr region. Medicine of the highest quality is offered in all specialist areas: Here doctors, therapists and nursing staff work hand in hand and guarantee a homogeneous, high-class range of services. It is therefore obvious that it’s important to recruit specialists with an international reputation. This becomes clear at the university dermatology clinic: Prof. Dr Falk Bechara, a renowned skin surgeon, former president of the German Society for Dermatologic surgery (DGDC), who has played a leading role in many scientific studies – and was appointed an associate professor of the Medical Faculty of the Ruhr University Bochum in 2014 – serves as the head senior physician of the Clinic for Dermatology and head physician of the Department for Dermatologic Surgery.

If you are looking for an outstanding specialist for skin diseases in the Ruhr region, you will most likely end up in Bochum. This is because Prof. Dr Falk Bechara, who has outstanding expertise in the treatment of skin tumours, skin cancer operations, scars or hidradenitis suppurativa/acne inversa and other diseases, practices at the Katholisches Klinikum in Bochum.

Prof. Dr Falk Bechara has earned a great reputation in one area in particular: when it comes to operations on the skin, he is considered an absolute specialist. Already during the diagnosis stage, he records exactly where the disease has its cause. As an experienced dermatologic surgeon, his main focus before a possible operation is the systematic and careful diagnosis, in which no part of the skin is left out and in which every pigment change, no matter how small, is included in the assessment. In addition to his many years of experience, he also uses the most modern diagnostic methods such as reflected-light microscopy, video dermatoscopy, skin ultrasound and optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Filigree surgery on the skin: Treatment of pathological changes

Prof. Bechara's speciality is the surgical treatment of pathological changes in the skin and its appendages such as nails and hair – in other words, dermatologic surgery. The surgical treatment of malignant skin tumours is a major focus of this expert's services. He can always rely on his surgical team of experienced specialists and assistant physicians, all of whom have expertise in reconstructive skin and tumour surgery. Thanks to his experience, Prof. Bechara has a trained eye to guarantee the correct and, above all, timely diagnosis of skin tumours. This also includes the fact that he can easily distinguish between acute and harmless skin changes due to his years of routine and expertise – and thus often saves patients unnecessary treatments.

It is therefore all the more important that Prof. Bechara performs operations quickly and purposefully after accurate diagnoses; these operations are often of a life-saving dimension. If you turn to a specialist like the head physician of dermatologic surgery in Bochum, you can be sure that skin cancer in particular will be treated successfully if detected early – in a professional operation.

People often come to him with the conviction that they have skin cancer, but they are quickly reassured after the detailed diagnosis: this is because there are a large number of benign diseases that are mainly associated with aesthetic impairments to the skin, but which are by no means malignant. Since Prof. Dr Falk Bechara has been fundamentally familiar with the entire spectrum of potential diseases of the skin for many years, those affected can look forward to individual treatment that corresponds exactly to the clinical picture. This means that in Bochum, exactly the right surgical measures are applied to enable successful treatment.
Depending on the diagnostic findings, an individual decision can then be made as to whether outpatient or inpatient care is necessary.

International acne inversa centre with outstanding expertise

Prof. Bechara is also known for his enormous knowledge on the subject of acne inversa. When young people in particular have to deal with large-scale inflammations in the armpit region or in the genital area, the focus is mostly on treatment with medication or even laser therapies – but operations are also necessary depending on the diagnostic findings. Since acne inversa as a chronic inflammatory skin disease of the hair follicles is often accompanied by severe physical and psychological stress, it is particularly important to consult an experienced specialist: Prof. Bechara knows that dermatologic surgery plays a key role today – in diagnostics as well as in the therapeutic treatment of this often very stressful and painful clinical picture.

In Bochum, those affected receive professional help, always at state-of-the-art scientific and university level, in a special facility: At the International Centre for Hidradenitis suppurativa/Acne inversa (ICH), a top-class team under the aegis of Prof. Bechara takes care of the treatment of this skin disease that is so difficult to treat. The goal of the clinical and scientific endeavours is clear – and is always accompanied by studies: The aim is to provide patients with a holistic and individually tailed treatment and access to the latest therapeutic options. This is what the team supporting the head physician of dermatologic surgery stands for with its nationally recognised experience and competence, with its interdisciplinary approach that relies on close cooperation within a multidisciplinary network – and with the necessary empathy.

As head physician of dermatologic surgery, Prof. Dr Falk Bechara also attaches great importance to ensuring that outpatient consultations are carried out at a high level. From the dermatologic-surgical outpatient clinic to the acne inversa consultation to the consultation for patients who are explicitly looking for a dermatologic-surgical second opinion – these services also have a special status in Bochum and in the entire Ruhr region.