• Question: can lasers remove moles

    Asked by izlanexox to Tom on 29 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 29 Jun 2012:

      YES!

      They can and they do. I haven’t seen any moles being treated, but I have seen lots of brown birth marks (some of which are essentially giant moles).

      You have a choice of lasers. There is the pigment reducing laser which breaks up the pigment, allowing your body to take it away. This takes a few treatments, each of which gets rid of some of the pigment – gradually fading the mole (for a mole, I think it would go completely in about 3 treatments). There is also the ablative laser which effectively cuts away the top surface of the skin. This works very well for things close to the surface and can get rid of it in one go. If it goes deep into the skin, this may leave a scar.

      Often, we use a combination of these, getting rid of the top layers with one laser and then fading what is left with another.

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