Is 6 weeks Too Long Between Laser Mole Removal Sessions?

There are a number of different pigmented lesions such as freckles, hyperpigmentation and seborrheic keratoses that can be removed with laser treatment.

But moles that are collections of melanocytes, pigment-making cells in the skin, should be either excised or left alone if benign and not suspicious.  Lasers typically remove only a portion of the mole, which can then recur and look very odd afterwards.

I feel that it is never appropriate to use a laser as your primary treatment for removing a mole. Regardless of how "benign" a mole may appear, a biopsy may still reveal it to be atypical. Using a laser to improve the appearance of a mole will alter its look and make it more difficult to observe for precancerous changes in the future. The majority of a mole can be removed very easily, and less expensively, using a shave biopsy technique. This typically results in a minimal scar, making the mole much less visible. It also has the added benefit of having tissue to send for microscopic examination, at least for reassurance purposes. With this method, the mole is actually shaved off at a very superficial level just below the surface of the skin. The procedure typically takes less than a minute and is painless after a tiny injection to numb the area. Moles that are removed in this fashion should not recur enough to be bothersome. If they do, they can always be excised and sutured at that time, but this almost never happens in my experience. I would recommend having this treatment done by a board certified dermatologist, as plastic surgeons rarely do shave excisions.