Mole Removal
Mole removal is important for you to have if your physician is suspicious of a mole or moles which have appeared on your body. Skin cancer is a rapidly spreading problem and catching it in time makes all the difference, before it has time to spread even further and to avoiding more problems with it in the future.
Acquired Nevi
The size of most moles is usually less than ¼ inch in size, anything bigger should be looked at by your physician. Most people think of a mole as being a dark brown spot, but moles can come in any shape, size and color (usually brown). They can be raised from the skin and very noticeable, or they may contain dark hairs. Moles can appear anywhere on the skin, alone or grouped.
Facial moles are probably determined before a person is born. Some may not appear until later in life, but moles that appear after age 50 should be regarded with suspicion and checked out. Sun exposure can cause a mole to darken in color, also during pregnancy and therapy with certain steroid drugs can cause a mole to darken.
Surgical excision of nevi should be done where cancer is a reasonable concern. Another reason may be to improve cosmetic appearance, but all surgery leaves some scarring. Smaller nevi can be "shaved off". Larger ones can be cut out directly and the wound edges stitched. Much larger nevi may be excised in stages by taking a little more out each time until the entire nevus is removed. When this is done, the area that has been worked on is too big to be sewn together so a skin graft is done using healthy skin from another part of your body. Usually after this has healed, the skin is thinner than the rest of your skin.
