# Should I cut this mole off? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 15, 2011, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290 "2011-12-15T11:11:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290/21 "2011-12-16T14:23:49Z")
Hmm. I’m glad to hear this thread. The previous appointment, my electrolysis lady accidentally nicked the mole on my upper lip with a razor (they have to dry shave the area first). Now I like her, and I did a lot of research on her, so I am not inclined to switch, but I was a little concerned. I’m glad it didn’t just happen to me. Anyway it worked out in the long run. It bled and bled and bled…and then healed with no problem, and now, it’s smaller. I actually like it better now. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290/22 "2011-12-16T14:42:25Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > I had a bad experience with an ear-lengthener… > [@jjimm](#): > > WTF? A joking description of getting a haircut (for typical men’s styles) is to get one’s ears lowered, as evidenced by the space now visible between the tops of the ears and the hairline around them. 😉 That should have been “ear lower-er” rather than “ear-lengthener.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290/23 "2011-12-16T14:53:03Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I’ve cut off a number of small skin tags and moles. Key word here is small. I’d probably have done the same thing as the OP, if a mole had already been just hanging by a thread. Usually I’ve used cuticle scissors rather than fingernail clippers, though. I have a few little red bumps and cut one open after noticing it was getting a little bigger each day (presumably filling with blood). Now I have a tiny coffee stain there. ---
**Author:** ![brittekland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290/24 "2011-12-16T14:59:31Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > That should have been “ear lower-er” rather than “ear-lengthener.” Haha either way (I like 'em) and… whooosh. So what about the other two? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290/25 "2011-12-16T15:10:10Z")
If it was melanoma, metastases might show up in a year or two. In which case, the survival rates become really abysmal… ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290/26 "2011-12-16T15:32:41Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > I was kind of hoping this would be a John le Carré-esque discussion of when to stop paying a double agent. 🙂 I thought it was going to be about a girl friend. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290/27 "2011-12-16T21:49:37Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > If it was melanoma, metastases might show up in a year or two. > > In which case, the survival rates become really abysmal… The last time I went to a dermatologist, she told me that skin-tag type moles are almost never cancerous. It’s the flat asymmetrical bleeding multicolored ones that you have to watch out for, and I do. ---
**Author:** ![FasterThanMeerkats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@FasterThanMeerkats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FasterThanMeerkats)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290/28 "2011-12-16T22:42:40Z")
Was hoping this thread was about a mole having a few too many drinks at the bar.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290/29 "2011-12-17T02:31:31Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Hmm. I’m glad to hear this thread. The previous appointment, my electrolysis lady accidentally nicked the mole on my upper lip with a razor (they have to dry shave the area first). Now I like her, and I did a lot of research on her, so I am not inclined to switch, but I was a little concerned. I’m glad it didn’t just happen to me. > > Anyway it worked out in the long run. It bled and bled and bled…and then healed with no problem, and now, it’s smaller. I actually like it better now. Huh. I’ve had electrolysis done, and I never get any sort of shaving beforehand. > [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I have a few little red bumps and cut one open after noticing it was getting a little bigger each day (presumably filling with blood). Now I have a tiny coffee stain there. I’ve cut off a few cherry marks, and they’ve all healed without even a scar. You can’t tell where they are. I guess this is another case of YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290/30 "2011-12-17T04:56:34Z")
A benefit of having a dermatologist do it is he or she will send it to a lab to be analyzed. Also, they tend to have training in these types of things so quite often they do it better than you might. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290/31 "2011-12-17T05:08:26Z")
> [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](#): > > A benefit of having a dermatologist do it is he or she will send it to a lab to be analyzed. Also, they tend to have training in these types of things so quite often they do it better than you might. I don’t know where the village is, but maybe the barber is old-school, and fighting back against the medical profession horning in on the surgery racket. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290/32 "2011-12-17T06:10:00Z")
I always use a pair of flush cut wire cutters. Very sharp and big enough to be able to control and see what you’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290/33 "2011-12-17T06:43:21Z")
Urgent care center. I had a weird mole on the side of my temple that had changed but I hadn’t realized it until a hair cutter mentioned it. At the urgent care center they not only removed it (pain-free) but biopsied it. Cost me _maybe_ $35. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-cut-this-mole-off/606290.md?page=1)