An elective procedure for beauty

These original untouched photos are actual patients of Dr. Shafa before and after cosmetic mole removal using the shaving technique.

How are cosmetic moles removed?

It all depends of size and depth of the mole into the skin, location, and type of mole and patients expectation with the final cosmetic outcome. The options for cosmetic mole removal are as followed:

1) Cautery and laser

Moles that are made of vascular can just be cauterized or treated with laser. Heat from laser or cautery shrinks the vasculature and creates a small wound in the area. Subsequently skin goes through wound healing and the area heals with hopefully small scar tissue. The area after treatment develops a scab that it going to fall off after one to two weeks. Skin at the scab area can look slightly pinkish that it usually fades to skin color over a few months.

2) Mole shaving

This method is used if the mole is sitting above skin level. The procedure is shaving the mole off of the skin. Than the site of shaving is going to be cauterized or a solution is applied to the skin to stop the bleeding. Both method creates a fake scab that covers the area of mole removal and this allows wound healing under the fake scab. The removed tissue can be send to pathologist for final confirmed diagnosis.

3) Punch Biopsy

This is a technique, using a special device to “punch out” a cylinder-shaped peace of skin. This method is used for removal of suspicious mole when we need deep tissue under the mole for study to role out cancer cells in the mole. It is usually used for area in the body that you don’t care about scar. The area can be closed with one or two stitches or left alone to close by itself.

4) Mole excision

This method is used when a mole is deep in the skin or if we are suspicious of skin cancer where I need a good size and thick tissue for pathologist to evaluate a mole under microscope. The area is going to be completely numbed and the mole is going to be cut out in a eye shape with some of the skin around it. Than the area is going to be closed with stitches.

This is one our patient. Mole excised.

5) Natural Mole removal:

There are a variety of natural mole removal cream and paste on the market. Most of these products contain Blood-root, a herb in the field of alternative medicine as a method of natural mole removal. This is the most non-sense claims that with applying this cream mole will turn brown and fall off because moles are usually deep in the skin and it can not “fall off”. I highly advise you to never use such an option because no doubt that your mole is not going to “fall off”. More important a mole needs to be evaluated and may be biopsied by a physician before it is destroyed.

How long does it takes to heal?

It depends on many factors such as location and size of the mole and method used to remove a mole. In general it takes a week of two. If there is a residual pinkish mark it can take up to six month to fade. Result may vary and Dr. Shafa will tell you what to expect with healing process in your individual case.

How do we know if the mole is a good or a bad mole?

Some type of moles have a typical look of a benign mole and others might meet some criteria of skin cancer. These type of suspicious moles must be removed and studies by pathologist who evaluate the tissue under microscope.

Do we have to send the removed mole to pathologist if it looks like a benign mole?

In medical practice there is something called ” Standard care”. It means every doctor in the area would send such a mole to pathologist if mole clinically look benign. The reason is even the most experience dermatologist can not be 100% sure, because there might be some cancer cell developing in the mole. In this case a wider tissue re-excision is recommended.