Used castor oil and baking soda to remove moles. Will they both heal up fine? (Photo)

Question

After using this method, my moles fell off and became scabs within a week. Now, a month later, one looks fine but the bigger one is rough (dry) and stingy when I touch it. When they first fell off I went to a doctor and she prescribed cream in case they got infected (though I haven't used it). A day ago I read that you shouldn't let them scab up, so I've been massaging Nivea creme into them. Will they both heal up fine? Should I use the prescribed cream?

Raffy Karamanoukian, MD, FACS · Answer

Mole removal with these home remedies works in some cases. I would begin by applying Plato's Scar Serum and Plato's Dark Scar Corrector to minimize further longterm scarring. Best, Dr. Karamanoukian Los Angeles

Lisa Zaleski-Larsen, DO, FAAD · Answer

Castor Oil and Baking Soda cannot remove moles. Moles go too deep into the skin to be effectively removed with topical treatments. Based on your photo it is difficult to tell if the areas you treated were actually moles or something else.  I highly recommend seeing a dermatologist for examination prior to any home treatments.  It is important to be sure you are not missing a skin cancer that could be temporarily masked by this home treatment.  It would be best to see a dermatologist to examine the area.  You can apply vasaline ointment twice daily to the areas until you have your dermatology appointment.

Michael A. Greenberg, MD · Answer

Answering these kinks of questions on line is difficult.It's impossible to know what you actually removed.  And despite everything I read on the Internet (of course, it's all completely true!), I'm not convinced that an actual mole can be affected by castor oil and baking soda. It's simply too deep in the skin.And, most important, removing actual moles without having them examined by a pathologist is playing with fire.  There are a lot of "spots" on the skin that can be safely faded or cauterized, or lasered, however, a real mole should be examined for any evidence of skin cancer.  And to those who scoff that that advice, I once took off a purely cosmetic mole from my wife's face and it had a focus of basal cell carcinoma inside, something I never would have guessed.  She had the benign looking mole her whole life and just wanted it off for cosmetic reasons.

Used castor oil and baking soda to remove moles. Will they both heal up fine? (Photo)

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