Who has had a mole removed....question

I just had a mole removed/biopsied and some negative results came back so I have to go in for an excision and have more skin removed to make sure they got it all and to test more skin around it.

Now my question is this...the mole was on my thigh and was tiny, less then .5cm and the doctor recommends a circle cut which I hear leaves an ugly scar. Many friends are telling me to do the straight line cut (which is an option) but will be a bigger cut, more stitches and longer recovery! However it heals nice and looks better in the end. Ughhh! So trying to decide which the better option and would love some feedback!

Also the dr. Is very strict and recommends 4 full days to rest and recover and NO working out what-so-ever for 3 weeks! No walking more than 2-3 blocks, nothing, not even lifting arm weights. So ofcourse I will follow orders but am curious if others were told the same????

Re: Who has had a mole removed....question

I just have them cut in the circle. I've had them on my arms, hand, etc and it's not a big deal. if it was on my face or something then maybe i'd reconsider and get it done the more difficult way. But for anything else I really don't care, it's not a huge scar to me.

You can ask them to give you bleach for the area that will take some of the pigment out after it's healed. I did that for a while but gave up because again, you can barely see it.

Re: Who has had a mole removed....question

I didn't have a mole removed, but I had a spot of basal cell skin cancer removed from my chest. Let me start by saying that when I had it done, I was young, far away from my family, didn't ask enough questions and was just not informed enough about what was going to happen.

I don't know what the doctor called it (this is going back about 12 years), but he basically cut out a chunk of skin in the shape of a football from around the basal cell spot. The doctor told me I would have a "small line of a scar". I was extremely unhappy with what my scar looked like. After further research after I had it done, I found out that the chest is one of the worst areas on a woman for scaring because the weight of our breasts pull at the skin constantly making healing difficult. I would imagine if I had a better doctor at the time, I would have been better informed about what I should do to make the scar heal the best. Ultimately, my dad kept telling me that the best thing to do was give it time. That I would be amazed at how scars can change with time. Well, as you can see below, time definitely made it A LOT better! You hardly even notice it anymore. I don't know exactly how long it took before the scar flattened out and started looking better, but it definitely took over a year.

This is what it looked like after he removed the skin:



This is what it looked like after it started healing... keep in mind, I was NOT happy at all...



And this is what it looks like today:



If your doctor is giving you such strict guidelines about not doing exercise, I would listen to him. The more movement you make the skin do as it is trying to heal in the beginning, the greater the chance it won't heal right. You want that skin to be really healed together before you start pulling at the skin through exercise.

Let me know if you have any questions about what I went through and good luck!

Re: Who has had a mole removed....question

Ok thank you both SO much for you help and pictures! I am still doing some research but yes I have heard from many that over time the scar will fade a lot.

Re: Who has had a mole removed....question

my husband has had about 4-5 moles removed on is back/shoulders and alwaysss gets called back for them to remove a little deeper bc of abnormal results. He used one doctor for 2 of them which left ugly round scars and then we switched drs bc we were very unhappy with the way they handled things.

His new dr. always stitches him up leaving minimal scarring but she does stress that he should not workout or do anything strenous that can cause the stitches to tear or the skin to stretch the wound. He plays hockey, so telling him no hockey for 2 weeks usually annoys him but his scars are barely visible and they've gone deep to remove skin, his derm usually does double layer stitches.

Re: Who has had a mole removed....question

I have a LOT of moles all over my body, so I visit my derm every 6 mos. I have had 1-2 moles removed almost every year for the past 5-6 years, but I have never had my derm tell me I can't exercise or I should restrict my activities. He did tell me to avoid my folks' hot tub, but that was no biggie for me.

My scars are minimal, but maybe I feel that way because I've already lived for 30+ years with 'chocolate chips' all over my arms, chest, back, legs. A scar is actually LESS noticeable, IMO.

Re: Who has had a mole removed....question

Def follow the Drs orders... my husband had one removed on his back and went and played in a baseball game the next day.... well the skin totally stretched out and now he has a big perm. scar on his back...