Why did Laser hair removal make my mole fall off? Will it come back?

Question

Hi, I started Lazer hair removal on my jaw line and the lady i went too last week lazered my cheeck too as she said there was some hairs. I have a beauty spot/mole on the side of my face. It's been two days since and it seems as though my mole has fallen off! I'm very worried incase I have made it dangerous and if it will now not come back. As I've had it since I was a baby I've got quite used to it. Please let me know your thoughts.

Harry Sharata, MD · Answer

The settings for laser hair removal targets pigment, this is why it destroys the hair (because hair is pigmented in contrast to the skin). Therefore, the laser will attack anything that is pigmented brown, this includes moles. The laser operator is not supposed to go over moles with a laser for this reason, because the moles basically gets burned and it can be painful. This is not dangerous, the mole with just scab and fall off with time, but these spots usually return with sun exposure as the sun likes to darken spots. The only downside is that if a mole is burned off by laser, it is difficult to monitor it for changes during skin cancer checks. Hope that helps.

Why did Laser hair removal make my mole fall off? Will it come back?

Answers (1)