removing a mole - Cancer: Skin Message Board

em1014 · 01-25-2002, 07:46 AM

hi

I went to the dermatolgist last night and he wants me to remove a mole on my back to get it off and tested. I was just wondering if anyone did this before. I was wondering what it is like does it hurt??

thanks

MelanieB · 01-25-2002, 02:33 PM

The only thing that hurts is the needle to freeze the skin before they cut out the mole. There's something about the local anesthesia they use that really stings a lot more than a normal needle.

If they are doing a full excisional biopsy (which I'd recommend you ask them to do) then they'll cut the whole mole out. It will be just barely wider than the mole in one direction and about twice the width of the mole in the other direction, to make kind of a football shape. This makes the closing clean with no bunching. They pull the two longer sides together and stitch it up. Stitches come out in about a week (you have to go back to have them removed). They should have the results of the biopsy (pathology report from the lab) about 1 to 3 weeks after the actual surgery.

If they don't do a full excisional biopsy, they'll do either a punch biopsy or a scrape biopsy. While these methods do work in that enough tissue is removed to test it in the pathology lab, they aren't the preferred method if the mole does come back as malignant melanoma. If it is melanoma and you've had either a punch or a scrape biopsy, they won't be able to properly stage you. Staging is based on the depth of the mole into your skin, and if they just scrape off the top or take a tiny punch of only a portion of the mole, they can't find the deepest spot that is required for staging. Staging is very important as it is used to determine adjuvent therapy required.

So insist on full excision!
Good luck.
Melanie

Jess0018 · 02-03-2002, 07:10 PM

Yes I am familiar with this, I had two moles removed. They have two choices one uses stitches the other does not. I had one done each way. Since I am active the doctor recommended the no stitches was. In which they numb it and it does sting a little. Then they cut it out in a circle shape. They removed my whole mole this way but no stitches were used. But it took a very long time to heal completely and it leaves a bad scar. The second one i got 3 stitches because I didn't want a large scar like the first one. The same thing was done except this time stitches were inserted. It isn't a bad procedure but I would recmmend getting the stitches.

MelanieB · 02-04-2002, 08:00 AM

Jess, it sounds to me like you had two different kinds of biopsy. The one without stitches was probably a scrape. Was the scar just circular shaped or was it football shaped? With an excisional biopsy, they take all layers of skin, all the way down to the fatty layer between your skin and muscle. The excision is football shaped and always requires at least one stitch to reduce chances of infection. I would certainly hope that your derm didn't leave an excisional biopsy open without stitches...

Which is why I think you had a scrape done. I had a scrape done on a dermatofibroma once, and it looks like you describe. It looked like he took a tiny melon baller or ice cream scoop and scooped out the lesion. There was still skin tissue underneath - it didn't go all the way down to the fatty layer. If it's still within the skin tissue, you don't need stitches.

The point of all this is that if your mole that was scraped turned out to be a melanoma... well you and your doctor would both have regretted doing the scrape and not the excision. Pigmented lesions should always be removed via excisional biopsies because melanoma is so serious. Non pigmented lesions (such as my dermatofibroma) are not critical and can be removed by other methods.

Melanie

lexsynergy · 02-08-2002, 01:31 PM

i recently had 3 moles removed from my back and sent in for a biopsy, he used a laser to remove mine which left a nasty scar...but didn't hurt, only the medicine going in hurt...