Surgical Mole Removal

Most moles are benign overgrowths of pigment cells. Usually they begin as flat brown spots and with time begin to grow and stick out above the skin surface. Most people consider mole removal when they become highly visible areas on the face, neck, cheeks and near the eyes. Moles can also be called "beauty marks" or "birth marks".

Some moles are actually warty growths called seborrheic keratoses. Doctors treat these by freezing or burning them off.

If you have a surgical excision your doctor will use a surgical knife to remove the entire mole or lesion particularly if melanoma is suspected. Your doctor will remove as many layers of skin as necessary in order to get the full depth of the mole or growth. You can expect to get stitches with this type of biopsy.

Surgery scar: Whenever you remove something from the skin, there will be a scar. Removing moles from the chest, shoulders, and upper back have the highest risk of raised scar formation, however, it can be only a very tiny scar and not so visible. If the risk of scar formation is high in any particular case, the Skin Renewal Doctor may refer to a plastic surgeon so as to avoid scarring as far as possible. 

At Home care:

• After the procedure, you need to keep a layer of petrolatum (Vaseline) and a bandage on the wound.
• Clean the wound once or twice daily with either water or diluted hydrogen peroxide.
• After cleaning the wound, apply the petrolatum and bandage.
• These steps are repeated until the wound is healed.

Misconceptions about healing;

Some people think that wounds need to be open to the air and that this helps the healing. Several studies have disproved this and found significantly quicker healing with bandages and antibiotic salve.

There are several scar remedies on the market, ask your doctor which one he/she prefer.