When a qualified doctor removes moles, what techniques do they use? Are they cut out, burned out with heat, burned out with chemicals or frozen with dry ice or liquid nitrogen? What makes a mole continue to grow back after it was sliced off with a shaving razor? And last but not least, why do they insist on bleeding so much?
Sincerely and Curiously,
Reply ----------------------
There are many ways to remove things from the skin. Some superficial lesions respond to destructive methods such as freezing (liquid nitrogen), electrical burning, or laser ablation. Since you may be calling many things moles that I would call seborrheic keratoses, these SKs will often respond to these destructive methods.
Deeper and superficial lesions can be removed with "cold steel" (a scalpel or other blade) and might be removed more supericially (a transverse cut) or completely down to fat or fascia (the layer just above the muscle).
Moles that return, if they are moles (nevi) do so because a component of the nevus was still left in the skin. I tell my patients that about 10% of moles removed transversely (shaved off) will return. We bleed because we are living. Maybe you bleed more that the next person because of aspirin, vitamin E, or problems with your platelets (things that help your blood clot). If bleeding is a question, you should really check with your doctor.
Hope this helps. Eliot
--
Dermatology Online: Served by Eliot N. Mostow, MD, MPH
NOTICE: OFCN is not engaged in the rendering of professional medical services. The information contained on this system or any other OFCN system should not supplant individual professional consultation. It is offered exclusively as a community education service. Advice on individual problems must be obtained directly from a professional.
--
Click here to
review previous Dermatology Clinic consultations