Surgically! There is no cream or drug that can remove a mole for you, it is better to take it out!
The good news is that the procedure of removing moles is very safe and easy, and actually reduces your risk of cancers later on.
Meet the Mole
A mole is a neoplasm, also known as a tumor. It’s not as bad as it sounds, though. The vast majority of moles are benign, meaning that they have no ability to spread tumor cells to the rest of your body.
A mole occurs when the mechanism regulating skin growth in some cells breaks. This can happen as a result of genetic problems, sunlight, or hormones, and happens in almost everyone.
Without regulation, skin cells reproduce rapidly, creating a mass under the skin. Because the reproduction is random, it does not leave space for proper blood channels, meaning that as the mole grows the inside has less access to nutrients. This will typically halt a mole’s growth early on.
Most people’s moles stop appearing and growing once they reach 20 years of age.
Some moles can become malignant with age. A mole that becomes larger, darker, or bumpier over time may pose a risk of skin cancer.
Structurally, the mole is a mass of randomly joined skin cells either on or very near the surface. This makes them easy to remove.
Removal Methods: “Shaving”
For small moles near the surface of the skin, a surgeon may freeze the mole with liquid nitrogen and the scrap or shave the mole tissue off, typically creating a shallow elliptical incision. The surgeon the cauterizes and sutures the wound. This is the least invasive method and has low risk of scarring, but is not for deeper moles.
Removal Methods: Direct Surgical Removal
Deeper moles can be cut out with a scalpel. As surgeries go, this is cheap, easy, and safe. Usually, local anesthetic is enough. The procedure lasts less than an hour, and has little potential of complications.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell how surgical removals will heal. Some people’s skin moves quickly to fill in the hole, leading to only a slight depression that may fill in over time. Other people’s skin does not bounce back, creating a pockmark. In almost all cases, however, the scar is less visible than the original mole.
Removal Methods: Laser Scarless Removal
Laser surgery is more expensive, but more effective at preventing scarring. In laser surgery, the patient is given a local anesthetic. Then, a precision laser is used to burn the mole material. The laser immediately cauterizes any blood vessels, greatly reducing the risks of any infections or complications. Even better, the laser does not create an incision, and thus has much lower risks of scarring. The only downside is that laser surgery cannot always completely remove a mole, and thus is never the solution for possibly cancerous moles.
Nov 14th 2014