Moles are benign tumors of the skin. They can be found anywhere on the human body, in a variety of type, shape, size and color shade.
They may appear during childhood and slowly grow in size or they may remain unchanged. They may also appear incidentally during adulthood. These lesions are usually not dangerous and direct excision is not necessary.
What is necessary is the patient to be closely followed up by the plastic surgeon and in those cases that the moles are multiple, a mapping to be performed by the dermatologist.
A mole should be excised, when is often injured by clothing, when its appearance raises concerns or when is aesthetically unacceptable. Excision is performed on an outpatient basis, under local anesthetic and the lesion is sent for pathology. When sutures are removed the patient will be given specific instructions regarding wound care, in order to achieve the best possible cosmetic result.
