I had one frozen off my face when I was getting something else frozen off on my leg (that one wasn’t a mole tho - it was a hyperactive scar.)
Freezing was weird - very sharp pinching pain right afterwards, and then really nothing for a few days. I couldn’t even see any difference in it. Then it itched for a while and then the scab fell off and the skin was lighter underneath, but still a little moley.
The leg thing was much cooler - they froze the everliving snot out of it three times in that one appointment, and over the next day it swelled up into this awful purple blood-engorged tick-like thing about the size of a dime.
Which was awesome and gory and all, but they never warned me it was supposed to DO THAT! So I was a leeetle freaked out. Had to go back to them the next day and demand to know if my leg was going to fall off or anything.
Anyway, it took about two weeks before it shriveled up and then scabbed off. It was really disgustingly entertaining. I was very glad it was on my leg and not anywhere nearer - I would have been much more tempted to pick at it. I’m still proud of myself for keeping my hands off of it for the duration.
Yes… my biggest removal involved taking out a piece of skin about 2" long and 1" wide, then sewing the edges together longways. The places the stitches went in and out left scars, too. The whole thing looks like those ghostly prints that house centipedes leave behind when you squish them.
Had one removed from my forehead, nothing to it. The one on my back made me queasy because I could feel the tugging. Worst part was the shot to numb it. I said, “Ow! Why does that hurt so much?” The doc said, “So you won’t feel it when I start cutting.”
It’s not so much the shape as it is deviance from the abcd(e) rule that is concerning. Can you draw a line through it and the halves look different (asymmetry)? Are the borders sharp and well-defined? Is the color the same throughout? Is it bigger than a pencil eraser? And is it evolving- that is, changing over time? If you have a growth that is concerning, there are almost always community programs that will help to cover a doctor’s visit, or, at the least, doctors that will work with you on payment.
I had three removed at the same time – I had one on my left wrist that my shirtsleeves always bothered; I was always itching. I had one on my left calf that I had cut while shaving my leg, and when it healed it looked funny to me so I was worried about it, and I had one on my shoulderblade that also itched. (I have extremely sensitive skin so a warm breeze can make me itch.)
I went to the dermatologist about the one on my leg; I wasn’t really that worried, because I figured the reason it had changed was my having cut it, but I figured I’d get it removed anyway. He said none of them was suspicious, and removed them all quickly. The scar on my wrist looks like a cigarette burn! :eek:
About a week later the office called me with the “results of my biopsies!” I had had no idea they were even going to do biopsies or I would have been a wreck. All A-OK.
Sorry for scaring you… but if it fails the ABCD test it should go bye-bye. The late doper Chique should be haunting you any minute (she passed from a melanoma that had apparently spread before it was excised). Typo’s mole was removed about 6 years ago (I think). He recently asked the dermatologist where he’d be if he hadn’t had it yanked and the answer was… not comforting.
You asked for horror stories, and shiyat, I just read through all the gruesome tales so far, so I’m not leaving without dumping my load! heh.
One day I was sitting at the PC, absentmindedly scratching my belly. Somehow my fingernail caught on to a lovely raised mole and ripped it nearly clean off! I was so freaked out that without thinking, I just immediately slapped it right back where it was and refused to look.
It closed right back up and it remains there to this day.
I had one removed from my chin. It hurt less than the last injection I received- just took longer. Minimal post-op pain, and the stitches weren’t itchy at all.
Be extra watchful of moles and such that you picked at or somehow messed with…
My mom did exactly that with a small mole on her face several years ago. It just never seemed to heal right, and she never bothered getting it checked out.
After several years, it was noticeably wicked looking, and her boss ordered her to go to the doctor to get it looked at. By then the cancer was so deep that she has had to endure several different surgeries over the past year and a half to remove the affected areas as well as to reconstruct the extensive damage
I had one burned off at my temple, and the worst of it was the burnt flesh smell wafting right at my nose level. I thought I was going to sneeze, which wouldn’t have turned out well.
I had one removed from my lower back, right where the waistband of some pants ride. Because it kept getting irritated, complete removal was the call of the day.
I had the football-shaped cutout, about 1.5 x .5 inches. They removed the stitches and before I got home from the doctor, the incision had re-opend. You know what they do for that? Nothing. So I had a big hole in my back that took several weeks to heal. I can still feel the scar back there. Had another football-size incision to remove one from my back right where a bra strap rides and that one healed up quite nicely.
I have another weird mole on my back that the doctors have decided should stay because it hasn’t changed in 30 years. But each new doc always looks at it and says, “You should have that checked out.”
I have had several small moles removed via freezing, too, and those always went fine.
So far, no skin cancer. But there is this spot on my thigh that looks kind of scaly and is lighter than the rest of me that I think I need to have checked next.
I removed a couple from my own body. Both were on my chest and were raised dark little moles. I had read on the internet (God I so love the internet) that I could do it with vinegar and it worked.
Just take apple cider vinegar (I just used the normal stuff you buy at the grocery store) and dip a piece of cotton ball in it (big enough to cover the mole) and put it on the mole and cover with a band aid. Of course you have to redo it after showers, but it only took a few days and the moles turned into scabs and just fell off. It’s been a couple years and they have not come back, just in case anyone was wondering about that.
And possibly quite dangerous. If you destroy a growth that is a melanoma, then you have just seriously delayed the identification and treatment of a life-threatening condition. There are healthy moles, dysplastic (precancerous) moles, seborrheic keratoses (benign growths that can resemble moles), and melanomas. Can a layperson really distinguish between all of these and say with certainty that what they are destroying is not a dangerous growth? No.
Oddly enough, I had my “8” originally removed by a derm in '95 (I think). He did a rapier <fwip> with his scalpel & was talking BS about cars while he nurse packed the wound in less than a minute. I never did think he got it all (though he said tests came back benign) as there were odd roots where he lopped it off from. And it grew back a few years later ABCD ugly. This time, I’m not sure whether to settle for a scalpel or a 3/4 in drill bit that doesn’t stop til its 2 in deep.
I’ve cut off several of my own with sharp scissors or knife. They bleed a lot, but I’ve never found it very painful. Not sure if that’s comforting to you.
Hey, everyone, OP checking back in here. Just got back from the good dr. Four total removals: three shaved off, one was a bigger deal w cutting and multiple stitches, which I had anticipated. (Bonus fun fact: she told me she used horizontal mattress stitching. Had to go look that one up.) I was warned that the bigger wound would eventually leave a lumpy scar, but that’s ok. It’s on the side of my hip - I’d have to wear a string bikini for anyone other than my husband to ever see it - and I, y’know, don’t wanna die of skin cancer. (Until this thread, I didn’t know the boards lost a Doper to melanoma.)
I planned ahead and showered before I left, and sure enough, was told to put off showering again until at least tomorrow. Was sent home with several samples of Polysporin and a few more admonitions. The nurse asked me if I wanted to see the wound before she covered it up, and I said “no.” Then I fessed up that I’d already peeked quickly, and that was … enough for me. All those black stitches sticking up everywhere is kinda freaky.
The shots to numb did in fact hurt more than the actual procedures, as promised upthread. I just looked away at the opposite wall for each removal, my usual MO for anything medical. (None were on my face, thankfully; upper arm, above a boob, waist, and the big one on my hip.)
Anyway, thanks, all, for your responses! In two weeks I get the stitches taken out!
Those stitches are gonna itch and drive you crazy. Benadryl can help tame the itching, but make sure to take it only when you’re about to go to bed anyway.
