Back in the 1990s, when I was still a kid, I had some moles removed on my face the old-fashioned way. I faintly remember a women injecting local anesthetics into each mole and then using scissors (yes, scissors) to snip them off. Then she sewed the skin together and gave me an oil to apply onto the stitches so they wouldn’t scar.

After a week, I pulled out the stitches and the damage was extremely minimal. Now that I think back, I think I had no scarring because I was young and young children tend to have skin that heals very quickly. Anyway, be glad that lasers are now the method of choice for mole removal! (However, for some moles, they are injected with some sort of solution so they plump up and are then scrapped away with a razor.)

I’ve had small, flat moles (about 1 mm big) on my face zapped away easily with lasers and also a bigger one (about 1 cm in diameter) on my back sliced away by a laser.

For smaller moles, the dermatologist basically uses the laser to ablate away the mole. During the process, you’ll smell something charcoal-y, kind of like burning skin *gag*. The whole thing takes about 5 seconds.

After you get your moles zapped, they will be red and might even bleed. The dermatologist will give you a cream to put on it (most likely an antibiotic) and a sheet of DuoDerm synthetic skin or some other kind of bandaging. I know some people just use bandaids, but the synthetic skin is like a bandaid sticker and keeps the wound completely sealed.

I was instructed to use the synthetic skin and keep the wounds covered for the entire day, changing each time after I showered. You want to keep the wound dry to prevent it from rotting and getting infected. I followed his instructions and a week later, the wound scabbed over and fell off and the moles have not come back since. There was a very light red mark leftover from it, but after a few more weeks, I couldn’t even tell where my old moles used to be.

Now for the bigger mole (reminiscent of Austin Powers) on my back, that’s another story. Some people who have these kinds of big moles on their faces have to get them cut off with a knife instead of a laser to prevent scarring and marking, but since my mole was on my back and scarring doesn’t really matter as much there, I opted for laser removal instead (it was cheaper than the knife).

So, my dermatologist injected the skin around the mole with an anesthetic (which really hurt) and then proceeded to “chip” away at the mole with the laser. Thankfully, it didn’t hurt too badly.

After the big mole was removed, the care procedure was the same as for the smaller moles. I had to keep it covered with synthetic skin, changing the bandage frequently, especially after showering. This one took longer to heal and there is definite scarring, so those who want to remove big moles from their facial skin should opt for the knife method instead of laser.

Therefore, to get your moles removed, go to your dermatologist for a quick laser session!