Has Anyone Had a Mole Excision?

[House Cat]

I have this darned mole that won’t go away. About two years ago, I had a shave biopsy done to it. The results were “moderately suspicious..”. Well, now the mole has grown back through the scar and it has also spread all around the scar. I sent a photo to my dermatologist, who gave me an appointment as soon as she could. She said she will most likely have to do an excision.

When I google “mole excision,” the pictures aren’t pretty. To me, it looks very painful.

Has anyone had this done? Do you care to share your experience?

 

[Bron357]

If it’s on your face you definitely want a plastic surgeon doing it!
I’ve had a few taken off my arm / back.
Local anesthetic is used and they do like a boat shaped incision around the mole and take the whole lot out and send it away for biopsy.
They put in stitches and you have them out a week later.
You can see my scars when I have a suntan. Doesn’t worry me though.

 

[House Cat]

If it’s on your face you definitely want a plastic surgeon doing it!
I’ve had a few taken off my arm / back.
Local anesthetic is used and they do like a boat shaped incision around the mole and take the whole lot out and send it away for biopsy.
They put in stitches and you have them out a week later.
You can see my scars when I have a suntan. Doesn’t worry me though.

That scar wouldn’t bother me either. Thanks for the photo. Were you sore after the local wore off?

 

[lala646]

+1 for what @Bron357 said about the plastic surgeon if it's on your face. The ones I had were not, and I had traditional removal, and a few years on I can't even see the scars. Just follow the directions from your doctor, and use the scar cream. I didn't have any pain after.

 

[Ally T]

I've had two moles removed from my upper arm over the years & like Bron, they were boat shaped dig-outs & have left such fine line scars, that they are only visible when I have a tan & IF you know where to look for them. Thankfully both were benign.

I had a local for both, but as I have a bleeding disorder, I had glue, thread stitches & plastic skin spray. I still bled through to my dressings though

 

[Paisley2628]

Another +1 for the plastic surgeon if it's on your face.

My son had one removed from his neck a few years ago (was about 20 yrs old)

He didn't think it was too bad!

 

[FL_runner]

I will say that surgically trained dermatologists will be able to achieve an excellent result, so it doesn’t necessarily need to be a plastic surgeon. The derms I know who do Mohs surgery are excellent!

As a primary care doc I have done some excisions on places like the back but strongly prefer to send to dermatology. They tend to be good at determining what needs to go to plastic surgery once the type of lesion is identified.

 

[Bron357]

That scar wouldn’t bother me either. Thanks for the photo. Were you sore after the local wore off?

No, you just have to keep it dry for the week.
The doctor wrapped me up in like this huge forearm bandaging, like wrist to elbow. I returned to work after, I’d gone at my lunchtime, and my Manager took one look and sent me home. I think he thought given the size of the bandage I’d had half my arm removed. Didn’t complain ha ha.

 

[MamaBee]

I’ve had many mole excisions. They numb you so you only feel the slight pinch of the needle. When it’s healing it pinches a little but not much. Each dermatologist has different directions..like keep it dry…put on aquafor ointment and a bandaid. Most of the moles were benign..I also had a melanoma but it was caught in time. The surgeon did a very deep scoop on my lower leg under anesthesia. It didn’t even hurt when I woke up from anesthesia. I wouldn’t worry about any pain.

 

[Tekate]

I have, I have a 1/2 moon scar, no biggie, and it wasn't melanoma but it was an atypical nevi and my derm at the time felt - off with it!.. I was glad because it looked pretty weird. BOL. (btw I had no pain whatsoever).

 

[LemonMoonLex]

So to preface this:
1. I have an abnormally high pain tolerance, even for a woman.
2. The doctor that I had remove the mole ended up being a horrible one and was ultra unprofessional.
3. Other than the dermatologist making so many careless mistakes, I believe my pain was so intense because the area right behind my ear is so thin and delicate, for me at least.

This was before I had my daughter so I was a very young 19 years old and had shotty insurance. They asked me to drive to another town as the doctor in this small one was the only one covered by my insurance. The practice felt more like idk a hair salon or something. He never did a biopsy and just looked at it, remarked that "it looks okay but when my patients feel iffy about it I always just remove it." I was young but I was still surprised how nonchalant he was. I thought this would have to be rescheduled for a different day in the hospital or at least in a more sterile room, not just the everyday exam room but he did it right then and there.

It was extremely, extremely painful. The idiot threaded it wrong somehow (I couldn't see as this was a 10mm sized mole behind my right ear) and ripped my skin further, then had to stitch skin farther back to get it to close which resulted in a minor eye/brow lift lol.

It sounds hilarious now but to make it worse he told me to get the stitches removed in two weeks at my local urgent care. I followed each and every protocol given by him which was nothing, just let my shampoo and water wash over it. When I went to the urgent care doctor she told me I needed to go back to the same doctor for removal as all doctors do different stitching or knots for their stitches and he would remove it easiest. When I told her he gave me specific instructions to go here she was flabbergasted...then she looked at the incision. Apparently I was supposed to get them removed around days 6-8 & after 14 days a scab had completely enveloped my stitches as my body tried to heal itself over.

The process that then commenced was twice as painful as the initial excision as she had to rip off the scab and she said the knot and stitches were not well done at all and were way too tight. I had been having horrible migraines so it all made sense.

I sweat through every single stitch of clothing I wore that day while she was removing them. Her teeth gritted while she kept saying "I'm so sorry". I couldn't help but cry and tried so hard to muffle my cries.

Anyways, it was horrible.
Point being, you're not 19 lol & I'm sure you have great insurance, as do I now thankfully, so it's just about going with the most professional doctor for this procedure!

To give ppl an idea of the pain & my tolerance:

- I did not wince at getting the top & arch of my foot tattooed.
- I've pierced my belly button myself as a teen at home with the right gauge needle and pressure. The fear of piercing it was 10x worse than actually doing it.
- I grew up with horses and have had my feet stepped and stood on countless times, including being kicked by a horse. (All learning lessons when I was a wee lad). It never made me cry, just felt as painful as pressing on a bruise but was embarrassing more than anything.

 

[RMOO]

I have had two removed, one on my upper chest, and one on my upper back near my shoulder. The procedure was as described above, numbing, (American) football shaped incision, removal and stitches. My dermatologist instructed petroleum jelly and a bandage for a 7-10 days and then stitches were removed. Other than my squeamish stomach and need to converse continuously with the nurse to keep my mind off of what was happening, the procedures were routine. What was not routine, was the painful, raised red hypertrophic scars that formed after. The front scar was so painful I could not sleep on that side or my stomach, and needed a series of injections that thinned and broke down the scar tissue so it flattened out. The back scar did the same but was in a spot such that almost no pressure was ever placed on it in daily activity, so I choose no treatment. It took several years to flatten out and become pale on its own.

 

[PinkAndBlueBling]

I've had so many moles removed, I don't even count them! Almost all were precancerous. Some were taken via a cookie cutter-type tool that cuts around it pinches it up and out; some via a regular old cut it out with a scalpel; and some were shaved. I love (not!) when he cauterizes them. Nasty! I'm not super moley, but the ones I have are small and primarily due to sun damage. My forearms are a mess with sun damage. One of the itty bitty moles was melanoma, so I'm forever grateful to my dermatologist for catching it before it went into my muscle! This was the result of living in So California at a time when you wanted to get as dark as possible, so sunscreen was never used.
Anyhow, I've found all of it bearable. It is what it is. The lidocaine is always the worst for me. Even the melanoma removal wasn't bad, and that required large removal margins. Just don't look at it while they do it. That makes it worse. Good luck!

 

[AGBF]

Yes. I had a mole on my right hand. I remember that as a child it is how I learned to tell left from right. I had it removed eventually. I had a scar for years. I cannot even see the scar now. I have no idea when I had the mole removed or any of the details, but I remember the mole and how much I hated it!