What should you know about a bipolar electrosurgical unit?

The clinician activates the instrument only at the treatment site. Tissue resistance converts the energy into heat, allowing precise coagulation or cutting according to the attachment and power setting.

Both active poles sit on the handheld instrument, often in a forceps-like arrangement, so current travels through the small amount of tissue held between them. This differs from monopolar electrosurgery, where current follows a broader path to a separate return electrode.

Dermatology teams may use electrosurgery to stop small-vessel bleeding or treat tissue during procedures such as curettage and cautery. The choice of bipolar or another technique depends on the lesion, its location, the planned tissue effect, and patient-specific precautions.

Tell the clinician about implanted electrical devices, including a pacemaker or defibrillator, as well as hearing implants, pregnancy, allergies, bleeding problems, and all medicines or supplements. Do not stop prescribed blood-thinning medicine on your own; the procedural team should balance bleeding and clotting concerns.

Ask whether local anaesthetic will be used and what wound care is expected. Afterwards, keep the site clean as directed, protect the dressing, and avoid picking at a scab. Use pain relief only as advised for your health history.

Contact the treating team if bleeding does not stop with the pressure they recommended, pain is increasing, the wound edges separate, or redness and swelling spread. Pus, fever, an unpleasant odour, or increasing warmth can point to infection and warrant assessment.

Seek urgent care for heavy bleeding, faintness, chest symptoms, or a suspected problem with an implanted cardiac device. If the treated area is near the eye and vision changes develop, arrange urgent assessment.

Ask why bipolar energy is preferred for your procedure, whether tissue will be sent for laboratory examination, what scar or pigment change may occur, and how to care for the wound. Confirm when results and follow-up will be available if a lesion is removed.