What are treatment options for removing small flat moles?

Question

I have many small flat moles scattered all over my arms and some on my leg. I am very self conscious about them, and would like to get them removed or at the very least lightened. Is there any treatment which will remove them effectively? I have read that microdermabrasion and broadband light laser treatments generally can be used for such procedures.

Raffy Karamanoukian, MD, FACS · Answer

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

Best,
Dr. Raffy Karamanoukian
Realself 100 Surgeon

Nelson Lee Novick, MD · Answer

In my opinion and long experience, Scalpel Sculpting followed by Dermaplaning (if needed) would be the treatment of choice for removing flat moles--dark or lighter-colored--from any location, body or face.Although removing moles by any method 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.If necessary, 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.

Christopher Ewanowski, MD · Answer

Microdermabrasion and laser treatments work effectively for sun spots because they are superficial on the skin. Moles (nevi) are deeper in the skin, so these options are ineffective. Moles should be monitored regularly, by doing self skin exams monthly and by seeing a dermatologist yearly. Forty percent of malignant melanomas (an aggressive type of skin cancer) occurs in already existing moles. It is not practical to remove moles unless they look suspicious. Mole removal involves shaving it off the skin or cutting deep around it and putting the skin back together with stitches.

What are treatment options for removing small flat moles?

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