Facial Mole Removal (Excision)- Excellent Results, Affordable Pricing, and Very Pleasant Experience. - San Francisco, CA

This might seem like an excessive review for a relatively minor procedure. That said, it felt like a huge deal to me (I only get one face!) and I hope this is helpful for someone else.

I cannot say great enough things about my experience, which I attribute mostly to the skill of the surgeon and a tiny bit to my diligence in keep the wound clean and then caring for the scar. It has been 13 days since the mole was removed and I can already tell that I am going to love the results. In the middle of the puffy redness, the actual scar is very thin, well-placed, and not nearly as long as I expected. I think it will be barely noticeable when the site fully heals.

I saw Evan Ransom, M.D. to get an second opinion on removing a facial mole. He charged less than half of the first quote and I felt much more comfortable with him. His training and patient reviews were excellent. When I met him, he was very approachable surgeon and seems like a nice guy.

After talking about the procedure, he marked my face to show where he would do the incision. A painless hour later, the mole was gone and I had eight neat visible sutures on my face (he did another layer underneath too). He said it would look like I had a caterpillar on my face, and I think that was a great description for the tidy collection of black sutures.

My aftercare instructions were clear and we set an appointment for five days later to remove the sutures. I chose to keep the sutures covered at work, even though Dr. Ransom said it was unnecessary, because I felt it looked less gruesome than the black sutures and it kept me from accidentally touching/scratching it. Unfortunately, and as expected, my skin around the suture became very irritated from the bandaid adhesive.

When the sutures were removed, glue was applied to the incision, covered by a piece of medical tape, to help hold it together. When the glue/tape started peeling off earlier than expected, I left a message at the office and Dr. Ransom returned my call very quickly and assured me it was fine -- it was just there for added protection, but wasn't necessary to hold it together. After the tape fell off, I used a combination of silicone sheets cut to fit the scar ($30 at the drug store) and the Biocorneum silicone gel ($42 from his office). I really liked the silicone sheets because there is a light adhesive that (in my mind) helped hold each side of the incision together -- since that skin is still fragile, I was worried about it pulling apart and widening the scar. I also like the silicone sheets because I keeps me from accidentally rubbing my chin and it is clearly covering the area. I love the option of the silicone gel, for times that I am not just in my office or at home, but it is a much thinner coating of silicone and just makes me wonder if I used the right amount. It is only 13 days out, so there is still some redness and puffiness around the incision, but I can see a very thin, flesh-colored line between the redness and am confident that the surrounding raised redness will go away as it has more time to heal.

The follow up care from Dr. Ransom was fantastic. After the sutures were removed, I saw Dr. Ransom about every 3-6 weeks until 5 months post-procedure just to ensure that the scar was healing well. Honestly, I probably didn't need to go that often, but it wasn't inconvenient for me and I figured that more monitoring couldn't hurt.

For the first couple months, the scar was a slightly raised and with a little redness. He did one steroid injection into the scar to help it flatten out. After about 6 months, I noticed the scar was perfectly flat and pink. The color of the scar was my fault; while I was initially very diligent with the silicone gel, sunscreen, and silicone patches, I stopped in the weeks after the sutures were remove. Dr. Ransom consistently encouraged me to keep using the silicone gel and sunscreen to have the redness fade sooner, but I was lazy and covered up the color with makeup instead.

As I approached a year, the scar really started to lose the remaining pinkness. Now, a year and four months later, the scar color completely blends in with my skin and is completely flat. The scar was difficult to photograph since it is only visible under certain lighting. I can't even feel or see it unless the skin is pulled taut. It The scar's placement is also perfect- it lies exactly on my smile lines, so when I smile and the skin is pulled taut, the scar still blends in.

I'm thrilled with the results, which entirely exceeded my high expectations. Also, all those 10-15 minute follow up visits and the steroid injection were included in the original $650 price, which felt like a great value since I didn't expect that much post-procedure care. Dr. Rassen was very professional, skilled, and a genuinely nice guy. I wouldn't hesitate to go back to him if I ever want something else done.