Laser for Seborrheic Keratosis?

I have some of these too (brand new this year--I really thought they were actinic keratoses but they weren't). All the doctor said, pretty much, was that cryotherapy as a treatment was very expensive and I'd probably just have to live with them. Also that they recurred after treatment using cryotherapy and curettage (which is apparently true). It's really bizarre. Dermatologists seem completely uninterested in figuring anything else out for them. Anyhow, I'm a medical writer, so I looked up some things on PubMed and there was an article on a study done in 2008 with a 580 nm diode laser on a good number of patients (I think a few hundred) and the lesions resolved (completely went away) in 93% of patients on the first round of laser treatment. More recalcitrant lesions took a second round of laser therapy and very rarely left hypopigmentation (which is better than the ugly red, brown things anyway if you ask me), probably linked to the age and depth of the older lesions. They won't let me link to the article but if you put those search terms in (520 nm diode laser treatment, seborrheic keratoses), it'll come up for you. Also, since lasers work and since the lesions in SK are quite shallow, I would think a similar strength chemical peel would work as well. (This is what I would like to use). I read one woman's successful experiment with a 30% glycolic solution used over 4 days. Some people use heavier concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (35%). Their stories are online if you google "seborrheic keratosis treatment peroxide". There are a truly surprising amount of success stories and follow up. Those are, of course, people doing things without doctors, but it seems that dermatologists just do not care to look into this problem--and it is a big cosmetic problem for a lot of people, so people used their own experience and ingenuity. They had all asked dermatologists before and been told the same things. The people who found the HP and glycolic solutions were mostly women who did facial chemical peels for purely esthetic reasons but were acquainted with the peeling process and sloughing off "burned", dead skin to get to new, less flawed skin. ch228 may also have a good solution but I have to point out when I first got SKs I didn't know what they were and they itched badly. So I stratched them quite hard--scratching many clean off. Unfortunately, they scarred. (Not badly, but it was a sub-optimal result). So ch228's method may work, just be careful not to draw blood by going to far beneath the epidermis. Long story short: I see no reason why lasers or chemical peeling as found in most medspas would not work for this. Good luck!

I have this problem too. I started scratching them off after reading a post by Doctor George Lundberg. Sometimes you have to scratch them off a few times before they really go away, but eventually, the do! Apparently they're located just under the very top layer of skin - practically a dead cells anyhow - so even though you think this might hurt(!) it really doesn't...kinda like scratching off a scar. No biggie. My advice - get 'em while they're small. Once they get bigger, you probably do want to have a surgeon take care of it. The article (with video) I found online was titled 'I use fingernail surgery to remove seborrheic keratosis' so if you google this, you'll find the info. The doctor recommends (and I did this) you clean them with a bit of hydrogen peroxide and then put a little neosporin on top so they don't get infected. Works like a charm!