How to best remove this mole with least scarring OR easiest to cover up with makeup, way of removal? (photo)

Question

I consulted a plastic surgery firm near me regarding a light colored but unfortunately placed mole on my face. The doctor said he would do the best he can for smallest scar possible, but I am wondering if i could get no scar or scar that could be Easily covered with makeup. I've been searching Internet for hours and seen posts about laser removal or burning/freezing or doing a shave of the mole or a complete excision. Can anyone say what would be best for my particular mole? I'm desperate

Nelson Lee Novick, MD · Answer

Although removing moles by any method from the face 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.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.As an important aside, destructive modalities to simply destroy the mole, e.g. lasers, electrocautery, electrodessication or cryosurgery should not be performed since these simply destroy all the mole tissue and do not permit a small specimen to be sent to the lab to ensure that the mole removed was entirely benign.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. In most cases, the procedure is done at the time of the consultation.

David Hansen, MD · Answer

Since your mole is only slightly bumpy and has some brown color in it, I would have your doc freeze it with liquid nitrogen since freezing it would flatten it down some and destroy some of the cells producing the brown color. It may have to be done a couple of times but is easy to do under local anesthesia with no scarring. I think this method would make it look the best cosmetic-wise. Sincerely, David Hansen,MD

Meg Cherry, MD · Answer

From your photo, it is difficult to appreciate how raised the mole is. Commonly, congenital nevi, or moles with a slightly dome shape on the skin, will reoccur if removed by a shave biopsy because the dome you see on the surface is a small part of a larger and deeper ball. To remove the entire lesion, you must cut deeper to the fat. This will leave you with a line scar rather than a footprint scar of the wound. The main cosmetic problem with removing moles is that the eye is drawn more to scars than to moles. I encourage my patients to leave a mole in place unless it is medically indicated to remove or otherwise symptomatic.

How to best remove this mole with least scarring OR easiest to cover up with makeup, way of removal? (photo)

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How to best remove this mole with least scarring OR easiest to cover up with makeup, way of removal? (photo)

Answers (3)

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Everything you need to know about Mole Removal

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.