Virtual Reality to Improve the Experience of the Mohs Patient-A Prospective Interventional Study

BACKGROUNDNonmelanoma skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States with significant quality of life impact.OBJECTIVETo assess the utility of a highly immersive virtual reality (VR) experience in the context of outpatient skin cancer surgery as a means to minimize patient-reported feelings of anxiety or pain. The authors also sought to assess the effects on patient-reported overall satisfaction.MATERIALS AND METHODSPatients completed a pre-VR experience survey after completion of their first Mohs surgery layer, followed by a 10-minute VR experience, and a post-VR experience survey. Differences in the pre-VR survey and post-VR survey were compared using the chi-square test. The anxiety scores were compared using a t-test.RESULTSIn all but 2 questions, there was a trend toward improvement of the anxiety-related sensations after completion of the VR experience. There were statistically significant differences for 4 questions: "Are you currently feeling unable to relax" (p =.0013), "are you currently feeling fear of the worst happening" (p <.0001), "are you currently feeling terrified or afraid" (p =.0046), and "are you currently feeling nervous" (p <.0001).CONCLUSIONVirtual reality experiences during the Mohs surgical day significantly improved measures of anxiety and patient satisfaction.