Mole removal has many techniques nowadays. The different techniques are applicable for different types of moles. There are some techniques that are less invasive and more invasive. The downtime of the mole removal wound can differ too. If you are curious about mole removal before and after, read up more as I share my experience in this post.
Why did I remove my moles?
I have experience removing 3 moles on my body so far. One was near my eye and the other two were on my arm. I think they did grow bigger many years ago, and stopped growing now. But they did change in size, which made me worried and therefore I visited the doctor. The only way for the doctor to confirm if it is ‘alive’ or cancerous is to take it out and send it to the lab. Therefore, I removed my mole at the end.
Various mole removal techniques
The moles that I have were raised on the skin. They were not flat moles. Dermatologists can remove flat moles that appear as brown or black speck on the skin through non-invasive methods like laser. On the other hand, they may need to remove raised moles that are typically bigger using more invasive methods like excision.
Excision also has a few types. I previously had a typical excision on a protruding mole on my arm where they use the surgical knife to cut the mole out. Another type of excision that I had was on my flat pigmented mole, and the technique used was punch excision. The process of punch excision was faster and the wound healed more quickly too from my experience.
Again, consult your dermatologist on which method that will be suitable for your moles. Inappropriate method may increase the chance of your mole coming back again.
Tips before you do mole removal
There are three tips that I want to share here, so please take note.
First, find a good dermatologist! That is very important and I learnt from my experience doing mole removal 3 times. Read their reviews. In Singapore, Google reviews are quite reliable. I went to 3 different clinics and the quality of the stitching, the speed of healing and also the reoccurrence of the mole vary across the three clinics. The two better clinics are more expensive but I am very satisfied with the result. Whereas the cheapest one among the three caused me a lot of pain from the stitching, the wound healed slower as a result (not sure if it’s from the improper stitching), and the mole was not removed properly. Pay more for a better service and result – that is my lesson learnt.
Second, mole removal wound on the face vs body can be different in terms of healing process. The dermatologist I visited told me that it heals faster on the face compared to body part. And I experienced this first hand. My mole removal wound near my eye healed in 2-3 weeks time, whereas the wound on my hand healed after 2-3 months. The scar near the eye is almost invisible whereas the one on my hand is visible and I got slight hyperpigmentation there.
Third, if you are prone to pigmentation, you will need to take extra care of your scar post mole removal. This is because the scar might darken with the UV exposure. So you may need to avoid too much sun when you still have fresh scar from the wound. Also, going forward you should apply sunscreen on the scar area to prevent it from darkening.
Mole removal before and after
This is the mole removal before and after for the protruding mole I had on my face, near my eye. Because of the tricky position near my eye, I went to a more expensive clinic with very good review in Singapore. This mole removal costed me >SGD 1,000. But it was very worth it and I will choose them again if I have to start over. This was by Stephanie Ho clinic in Orchard, Singapore.
This one was with a clinic that was cheaper. The price for mole removal was almost 1/3 of Stephanie Ho clinic’s, but I was not satisfied with the service and outcome. The stitching of the wound was not done that well in my opinion and the wound hurt really bad. In comparison, my 2 other mole removal wounds only hurt a tiny bit. Moreover, the wound healed more slowly and I think it was because of the way the wound was stitched. The scar resulting from the wound is also bigger than expected. Since the scar was bigger, the hyperpigmentation that I get on the scar is more obvious too.
Read more about my experience with other procedures: