Thread: is it possible to "shave off" scars and moles?

Just to go along with teh malignant theme, if it is malignant or could be and you shave it, you facilitate the malignancy by breaking it up.

Originally Posted by khaos

Just to go along with teh malignant theme, if it is malignant or could be and you shave it, you facilitate the malignancy by breaking it up.

uuhhh, no.

If its malignant and you shave it off. The cancer you are really afraid of is malignant melanoma.

Surgery — In most patients, surgery is required to remove (or excise) the entire melanoma. Generally, one to two centimeters of normal skin surrounding the lesion must also be removed. This procedure is termed a wide local excision. This decreases the chance that the melanoma will recur at the same site.
The type of physician (eg, dermatologist or general surgeon) who will perform the surgery depends upon the location and size of the wide local excision. Most procedures are performed as a day surgery in a hospital or surgical center. Most patients are able to go home later the same day.
Occasionally, skin grafting may be necessary to promote healing and replace skin that has been removed. In some patients (such as those with a melanoma on the face or neck), it may be difficult to remove a sufficient amount of normal skin to ensure adequate margins. In this case, radiation therapy may be recommended after surgery.
If an enlarged lymph node (gland) is present, it may be biopsied at the time of the wide local excision. Even if enlarged lymph nodes cannot be detected, the lymph nodes may be evaluated during or after the surgical removal of the melanoma.

UpToDate Inc.



INOW in order to guide therapy your Dr would need to have pathological confirmation that it is malignant and that the margins were clear.



If you shave it off you won't know you have cancer, if it was completely removed or know if and what kind of therapy might be needed.

Originally Posted by Pyment

uuhhh, no.

If its malignant and you shave it off. The cancer you are really afraid of is malignant melanoma.

I think we are actually on the same page.... I've had a couple moles removed because of potential cancer. The doctor always said that we have to watch it cus if it starts breaking up it spreads through your body. So if you shave it I would think you facilitate it cus you may leave chunks behind which will get into the open cut and go through your blood through your body.

Anyways. I'm not a doctor, I'm in engineering, so take what I say with grain of salt. I just was advised by my doctor not to scratch them or anything because the can "satellite" which is bad so...
I dunno. My opinion would be to try and avoid the moles.

That is exactly the point. A 'tumor' is a cluster of cells that grows and develops outside the control of the body (the body normally kills off any cells that show signs of going wrong). Cells may break loose of this cluster and spread through the body through the blood- or lymphsystem. Since such cells have the ability to keep dividing eternally, a tumor might develop where the cells land.

So yes, cutting into a mole (which is normally a non-malignant cluster of cells growing more or less independent) might cause spreading of uncontrolled cells into the body.

I have a couple of moles that I usually just shave over. As much as they protrude you would think that they would just shear off, but they don't. The one I can only shave in one direction with the DE, but I've been going the other way with the straight with some success. Just an ocassional nick and not shearing it off. I'll have to make a video showing that, amazing that it does not just get cut off.

Malignant or not it would take me all day to shave around them all.

I've got a couple of moles, one on my neck and one on my cheek, and a scar on my chin from a combination of a bar, tight pants, a boyfriend who turned out to have a knife, and a rather inappropriate comment...
When I started with a straight razor, I found that I would tend to nick myself on my moles and not get as close a shave around the scar. Over time, I've stopped nicking my moles (which seem to have flattened out a bit) and I get a closer shave around the scar.
I sort of chalked it up to an improvement in technique and my face getting used to what I was doing.
I hope this helps.
-axx

Originally Posted by axxter

I've got a couple of moles, one on my neck and one on my cheek, and a scar on my chin from a combination of a bar, tight pants, a boyfriend who turned out to have a knife, and a rather inappropriate comment...

This sounds like a great first line for a book!

I hope that's the case bc it can look like war on some nights in my sink....

shave off a scar?..never heard of it..a mole..they grow back..you gotta have an MD get em off..freezing doesnt do it..moles require a blood supply...warts can be frozen off by yer MD...I have some moles..I pay no attention to em..they never changed size ever so im good..at least 10 yrs ;-)

pcdad

The mole on my chin is definitely flatter than it used to be....