Mole
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Thu Sep 30, 2004 12:57 pm

Ok, I had this raised mole on the back of my neck. I'm pretty sure it was a mole, may have been a skin tag. So anyways, against my best judgement I follwed a friends advice and used 17% salicylic acid wart remover on it. Well, the top of it dried up and fell off after two days, so it was now the same size but not really raised up only a tiny bit, i put some alcohol on it and a band aid and went to bed. Well the next day, the sking around it was kinda dark, not very dark, but darker. I made sure I kept washing it, but alcohol on it to keep it clean. Now its the next day, and its still discolored around the mole, but, its not spreading. I thinks its gotten a tad lighter, I can't really tell. Its not soar at all, it just feels like normal. So since its not spreading I don't really have to worry right? That probably means its not infected? The skins probably only darker from getting all that salicylic acid on it right? I just wanna be sure. I know this was a stupid thing to do, and I don't plan on doing it again. I just want to make sure I don't need to go to the doctor or anything.

free skin care · Thu Sep 30, 2004 2:28 pm

Skin tags and moles are two different things. You really need to check this out with your doctor. It is always better to be safe then sorry with any kind of mole.

I am sure you are fine but please get it checked out.

Thu Sep 30, 2004 3:11 pm

I know I guess I should, but I mean, moles aren't really dangerous at 16 right? I've never heard of many 16 year olds with skin cancer from moles, or w/e.

Thu Sep 30, 2004 3:27 pm

Skin cancer/melanoma does not descriminate against age. Anyone can get it. I advise that perhaps you should have your skin looked at by your physician, keep track of any changes in moles (size, shape, color) or the appearance of moles, and do your best to protect your skin.

free skin care · Thu Sep 30, 2004 5:37 pm

Caspers Mum is right!! Skin cancer can occur at ANY age!!

It's important for you to think back (very hard) about the color, shape, size of the mole and how long you had it and any changes BEFORE the incident. The more specific questions to ask yourself are:

1)Was the mole Asymmetic?
2)Was the Border of the mole irregular? (instead of nicely round shape)
3)Was the Color of the mole irregular? (meaning different shades all in one - brown, red, black, etc)
4)Was the Diameter of the mole greater than 0.6 cm? or Has the size of the mole ever increased over time?
5)Any close/immediate family member has history of skin cancer?

If you answer "YES" to ANY one of the questions (especially the first four questions), you should definitely go see a derm...

If your mole was less than 5 mm, well-circumscribed with defined border and single shade of beige to brown, you can rest assure that you may just have a regular mole... And do keep tract of any changes like Caspers Mum suggested in the future...

But just being on the cautious side, you may want to have some expertise to take a look at it...

Good luck!

Fri Oct 01, 2004 6:57 am

I would go see a doctor. I think perhaps living in Australia has made me a bit more aware of how dangerous little 'moles' can be and I tend to get paranoid when I find a new one that looks odd (changes color, is irregular, has grown dramatically etc). I'd say that just for peace of mind you should go see a doc. Better safe than sorry!

Btw, sorry for my ignorace, but what is a skin tag? Question

free skin care · Fri Oct 01, 2004 7:12 am

Mabsy wrote:

Btw, sorry for my ignorace, but what is a skin tag? Question

A skin tag is a bit of skin that projects from the surrounding skin and may appear attached. They can be flesh coloured or pigmented like a mole. Some are slightly raised while others appear to hang from the skin. Sort of like a droopy mole (if it's pigmented).
You can get them anywhere on the skin but most likely places are the neck, upper chest and eyelids. My Mum tends to get them around the neck and upper chest.

The following link is a photo of a skin tag.

http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/MedEd/medicine/dermatology/melton/tag1.htm

Fri Oct 01, 2004 7:39 am

Thanks for the explanation Toe! This is yet another time when I find out a name for something that I have had before and I didn't even realise that it had a name Laughing

I had a few of these over the years on my neck and around my armpit once as well. I just picked them off Embarassed

free skin care · Fri Oct 01, 2004 7:51 am

Mabsy wrote:

I had a few of these over the years on my neck and around my armpit once as well. I just picked them off Embarassed

My Mum usually ties a piece of cotton round them (cut off the blood supply) and waits for them to drop off. Shock

Don't try this at home!

She did go and see the doctor a couple of times about them and he used liquid nitrogen to freeze them off. Much more sensible. Still, she says it's less time consuming and more fun using her method! Rolling Eyes

free skin care · Fri Oct 01, 2004 10:08 am

I had many skin tags on my neck. About 5 years ago my facialist removed them with a machine that had a little hot needle. They turned to scabs and just fell off and have never come back. I hated those things on my neck.

There is a hugh difference between a skin tag and a mole.

free skin care · Sat Jan 15, 2005 2:49 am

My mom has had a lot of these and I am starting to have a few of them also. Depending on the size you can take them off with toenail clippers or scissors. My mom has my cousin use the scissors for hers. I used to think that was probably not the way to go in removing them, but recently I was watching one of those makeover shows and an older lady went to a dermatologist and what was the dermatologist using on the skintags? Yes scissors Surprised

The only difference is that the derm was cauterizing the areas after removal. She might also have used some sort of pain block but I didn't notice.

On that note, I should add that that some skin tags can be painful to remove so the scissor and toenail clipper methods might not be ideal in a lot of cases.

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