Shave the Mole or Remove It All by a Plastic Surgeon? (photo)

A scar becomes noticeable if it...

     1. heals a different color than the surrounding skin

     2. becomes wide during the healing process

     3. becomes raised or"hypertrophic" during the healing process

These three features can be minimized by using basic plastic surgery principals which deal with each of these issues at the time of the mole excision.

When I perform mole removal I take into account the location, skin type and  skin tension in the area of the mole to best plan the most cosmetic way to remove the lesion.  Your moles appear to be removable with minimal scarring using these techniques but a proper examination is needed to be certain.

I have removed similar moles to yours and have before and after pictures on the link included below.

Mole removal begins with a comprehensive examination and consultation to determine the likelihood of a mole being worrisome. Excisional and incisional biopsies are reserved for suspicious moles. But it’s good news that most moles are not problematic and are only cosmetic, thus leading to the option of scarless or non-surgical mole removal with lasers and RF and plasma. Our office specializes in non-surgical mole removal.

Best,
Dr. Raffy Karamanoukian
Realself 100 Surgeon

It may be a good option to have the mole completely surgically excised.  The incision will be along the nasolabial fold so it will blend in nicely.  

Your mole will most likely look the best with an excision with dermabrasion of the edges and a couple of tiny sutures followed by a light dermabrasion of the scar about 6 weeks later.  Sincerely,

David Hansen,MD

You just have to make sure that you are choosing the right doctor. You will have the right intuition. Your doctor should care about your results.  Laser removal is another option but you will have more variable healing. But the benefit is that with the laser the removal is concentrated on just the mole and doesn't have to be twice as long as the width of the mole. Below is a video to illustate our answer better.

Thank you for the question and picture.

If this mole were on my face I would want it to be excised rather than “shaved”. The excision will allow for complete removal, less chance of recurrence, and a finer ( more predictable) line scar  than shaving will allow.

I hope this helps.

If it is the color that bothers you, the excision would be the way to go.  Faces heal well, and your scar should be minimal in 2 or so years.  Best to you.

Your mole does not look very raised and is quite darkly pigmented.  For these reasons, I would recommend excision rather than shave.  It will allow the mole to be removed in its entirety for histological analysis and whilst it will leave a scar (shave excision also leaves a scar, although different), it should fade in time and the hope would be that it would be difficult to see after some months.  Good luck.  Jonathan Staiano 

Shave removal and excision with sutures are 2 ways to remove a mole. In either case the mole is almost always sent for pathological evaluation. Shave removal can have an excellent outcome if done properly as can excision with sutures. A conservative approach would be to shave the mole and evaluate the cosmetic outcome results. In a vast majority of cases this is can bring an excellent result. You can always later perform excision if the results are not excellent or the mole comes back.

I have shaved thousands and thousands of facial moles.  The vast majority of the time the results are very good to excellent.  There is always the risk of mole or pigment recurrence and I advise my patients about this risk.  A dark mole is more likely to recur with dark pigment after a shave procedure.  Shave works best for moles that are raised.  It is difficult to shave a flat mole without leaving a depressed scar.  The shave techique is highly operator dependent.  It is better to be conservative and leave a slight bump than to go too deep and leave a crater scar.  I tell my patients that they can always have the mole excised after a shave procedure if they don't like the scar or if the mole recurs.