Cost to Removed a Raised Mole About 3mm Diameter on Left Side of My Nose? (photo)

Although removing elevated moles by any method from any location is likely to leave a small scar, scalpel sculpting, which involves no deep cutting or stitches has, in my experience, proven quite successful for achieving gratifying aesthetic results while leaving little, or often barely perceptible, scars. I have personally used this method, in fact, to remove three moles at one time from a person's nose with excellent response.

The technique, which I have been using for thirty years, involves "scultping the mole" off from the surrounding skin in a tangential fashion (i.e. not cutting deeply into the skin). Deep cutting will inevitably result in a scar, while superficial (horizontal) removal in this fashion largely avoids this. Elliptical and fusiform simply describe the resulting shape of a wound excision after cutting them out deeply and before the placement of the sutures.

Following scalpel sculpting, the borders of the mole can then be smoothed and blended with the surrounding normal skin by "dermaplaning," a technique by which the edge of the scalpel is used to delicately abrade the skin. Properly done, the entire procedure, performed under local anesthesia, takes no more than three to five minutes.

A board certified aesthetic physician with experience in this area should be the only one to perform this kind of procedure. And the specimen should absolutely be sent to the laboratory to confirm that it is entirely benign, since sometimes innocent-looking moles removed for cosmetic purposes only prove to be atypical. Incidentally, laser ablation of a mole, which is sometimes suggested, is ill-advised, as this would simply destroy the mole, risk a visible scar and not provide any specimen for laboratory confirmation.

While surgical excisions typically run more, the cost of scalpel sculpting, including lab fees, typically averages around $500, but this may vary a bit, depending upon location of the country.

Moles can be removed in several ways. A shave removal or an excisional removal. One uses stitches while the other heals like a scrape. Which you decide to pursue depends on the goal and the acceptable risks. If done well, scarring can be minimized but remember whenever you remove a lesion you will have some scarring that occurs, the goal is to use a technique that will make it less visible. A range of costs depending on the techniques is usually $300 - 800 and should include processing through histology to confirm it is benign.