Mole removal - Should I see a dermatologist or a plastic surgeon?

Although dermatologists are completely qualified to remove moles, plastic surgeons are more qualified to keep the scar minimum afterwards.

Depending on your insurance, it may be possible for your excision to be covered, even if it is removed by a doctor outside of the network.

If your main objective is to have your face looking as if nothing were ever there, it is worth the expense for a board certified plastic surgeon to remove your mole.  Especially since it is bordering your lip, which is a very delicate area, I recommend you find a plastic surgeon in your area.

In this case, it may take a team approach. Depending on the type of malignancy that it is, the best option may be to have a specially trained dermatologist perform Mohs micrographic surgery to remove the lesion and a facial plastic surgeon or plastic surgeon perform the reconstruction.

Mohs micrographic surgery is a procedure where a specially trained physician, usually a specially trained dermatologist, will remove the lesion in such a way as to be able to examine the borders at the time of the excision. If some tumor remains, additional removal can occur. In this way, the maximum amount of normal tissue is maintained.

Mohs surgery cannot be performed for all tumors though. Some tumor simply require excision with 'surgical margins' - areas of normal tissue removed to ensure that no tumor remains.

Some Mohs surgeons will be comfortable repairing these defects but at times they will refer patients to plastic surgeons or facial plastic surgeons for repair of the defect that is created. The best surgeon for repair will be the one with the most experience in facial surgery. There are excellent plastic surgeons who perform facial surgery, but then again there are some who perform mostly breast and body surgery, shying away from the face. In general facial plastic surgeons will have training and experience only in facial cosmetic and reconstructive surgery.

To avoid being deformed, you need a surgeon specificially experienced with operating on the lip.

While some dermatologists have experience in these things, I think in general for a malignancy in this area, that I would suggest you see a surgeon.

Whether it should be a facial plastic or a general plastic is tough to say.  Both groups have adequate training and understanding.  It would come down to the experience of the individual doctor.

I'll tell you what I would do if I had this: I would see a plastic surgeon who does a lot of cleft lip surgery, as they understand the lip better than anyone. 

 The lip is a complex structure, and they know all kinds of tricks to move it around and reshape it.