Dermatology Coding Alert

Question: A patient with a 1.5-cm laceration on his eyebrow presented to our dermatology practice. Our dermatologist performed an intermediate repair. The patient also had a 3.6-cm forehead laceration that required a simple repair. Should we add these two wound lengths together and then code the intermediate repair, or does each get its own code?

New York Subscriber

Answer: In this instance, you should report code 12051 (Repair, intermediate, wounds of face, ears, eyelids, nose, lips and/or mucous membranes; 2.5 cm or less) for the eyebrow repair and 12013 (Simple repair of superficial wounds of face, ears, eyelids, nose, lips and/or mucous [...]

- Published on 2011-10-11