Bespoke Birthmark Removal - Thank You Dr Jeremy Hunt!

I had a large congenital nevus birthmark on my right shoulder (an egg shape and roughly egg-sized) which I felt 'ruined' how I looked. It lowered my confidence, and I wasn't brave enough to wear any clothing without sleeves.

I had tried camouflage make up, but my birthmark was too dark and had thick hairs, so this didn't work for me. I went to 2 different plastic surgeons in England about the surgical removal of my birthmark and they told me that it couldn't be an option which was incredibly upsetting. They said that the location of the birthmark would make it impossible. I was informed that shoulder skin is very tight and a very difficult place to have surgery without resulting in an ugly scar.

I mentioned to one of them that I was moving to Australia and they suggested that I contact Dr Jeremy Hunt because he had an excellent reputation (even in England) and was known to be extremely skilled.

Before I had met Dr Hunt, I had researched his work and seen a YouTube video of him performing skull surgery which was really impressive. It made me recognise his problem solving abilities and the precision in his work, which made me think he would be perfect for removing my 'difficult' birthmark.

Upon meeting Dr Hunt I really appreciated the way he discussed my birthmark. There was no 'you don't need to get that removed, you're fine' or the other comment I always received 'I can see why you'd want that removed'. He was kind but very to the point - after all, at this stage I already knew that I wanted it removed - so the discussion was specifics as to how we would remove it. He was entirely transparent and agreed that the shoulder area is a more difficult area, but did not feel like this was beyond his abilities, and I believed in his confidence.

We decided to make the 'bigger problem, into a smaller problem' by removing the birthmark across two operations with a break in-between. His team are lovely people, who made organising the surgery very straightforward. I had never been in hospital before but I felt very confident and excited on the day. He removed about 60% of the birthmark - I was out the hospital and home a few hours later with a water resistant dressing on my arm. I was prescribed antibiotics, and painkillers which made it very easy to manage at home. I only took 3 days off at work, followed by the weekend and was back on the Monday. His nurse also rang me a couple of times to check up on how I was and I felt like I recovered very smoothly/quickly.

After another consultation a week or so later, he removed the dressing and my arm already looked dramatically better. I couldn't believe how neat his work was! Even though the whole birthmark had not yet gone, my shoulder/arm looked so much better already and there was so absolutely no puckering - SO NEAT. I had a dip in my arm from the skin pulling, which we were ready for and I had to wait for it to bounce back fully before we did the final removal. The surgery site healed very well and I was able to get on with everyday life very easily.

I had another 2 consultations in this break and 12 months after the first surgery, I had the final removal. I felt very comfortable having already done it once, and having the surgery with the same anaesthetist and same hospital. It was flawless and straightforward with his team, pre and post op.

I have had my dressing removed again this week and finally seen my arm/shoulder without my birthmark. It just looks absolutely incredible because you'd never of known that anything was there. I can't really believe that it's gone and I never have to have any of these worries again. Dr Hunt's is clearly very very clever and experienced, because this plastic surgery that wasn't entirely straightforward/common and not only has he done it, but he has done it perfectly. The stitching is so neat and precise and a week later I am not feeling any pain. All I have to do now is let the dipping fix itself again and apply silicone (given by Dr Hunt) for several months to ensure an aesthetically pleasing scar forms, as it did last time.

I don't imagine that anyone else would have been better for this, and I don't think that there is anything that Dr Hunt couldn't fix. I feel so lucky that he was my plastic surgeon because this has been a very professional, comfortable and friendly journey, with a beautiful and tidy result. I think anyone who has thought about their own birthmark, no matter what size, location, or what someone else has told you, I'd recommend you book an appointment with Dr Hunt, because he is a genius and will figure it out for you.