Warts and Moles - Medics?

I hate my stomach, I have a mole on my stomach and one on my collar bone and a scar which has turned like a mole just above my breast. I really want to get them removed but the Dr said that I can't do it on the NHS because its just cosmetic.
What's the difference between warts and moles? I've done some reading and apparently they freeze the core of moles and they fall off...which is exactly what wartner does.
I'm tempted to buy a jar of this wartner stuff and give it a try, it says not to use it on moles but only because "moles may be a symptom of a medical condition" aka cancer.
Any help? Medics?

Reply 1

Jennybean

13

I'm not a medic, I'm a vet student but I can tell you that taking moles off by yourself isn't a good idea, simply because they have their "roots" deeper than warts, which are superficial. If you remove the superficial process of a mole, you could be leaving 'moley' tissue in the skin, which could still turn cancerous but because it isn't big and prominent anymore, you won't be able to spot any changes, which could signal cancer, as easily. Obviously the quicker you spot cancer the better your prognosis will be, so you can see that if you can't spot changes early on you're putting your health at risk. This is why there is a warning on the product and why doctors now recommend that moles should be surgically removed so that all the mole tissue is removed. Why do you hate them so much? They're not that big a deal, loads of people have moley skin.

The above information is Copyright Protected by Jamie, 2007.

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

OP

I don't know. There just seems like so many...or 3 whatever but I'm scared my (future) boyfriend will look at them and be like...what the actual **** and then tell all his friends etc etc.

Reply 3

RetiredAccount89

18

Jennybean

I'm not a medic, I'm a vet student but I can tell you that taking moles off by yourself isn't a good idea, simply because they have their "roots" deeper than warts, which are superficial. If you remove the superficial process of a mole, you could be leaving 'moley' tissue in the skin, which could still turn cancerous but because it isn't big and prominent anymore, you won't be able to spot any changes, which could signal cancer, as easily. Obviously the quicker you spot cancer the better your prognosis will be, so you can see that if you can't spot changes early on you're putting your health at risk. This is why there is a warning on the product and why doctors now recommend that moles should be surgically removed so that all the mole tissue is removed. Why do you hate them so much? They're not that big a deal, loads of people have moley skin.

THis post sounds familiar...

Anywho, the poster is saying nothing about cancer, but cosmetics.
Warts are very different from moles. A wart is caused by a virus - HPV. it is extra growth of nomrla skin cells due to the virus. if you freeze it or apply acid to it (froma pharmacist that is!) then the cells break open and your immune system can see the virus and attack it. the immune system will then chase down the ones hiding in the cells too. eventually the wart will be cleared.

A mole on the other hand is normal cells but with more than normal cells called melanocytes. we don't really know why they form discreet collections (moles). there are 3 different forms of moles as eeveryone knows (but no one thinks about).
coloured moles flat to the skin
coloured moles that are raised up
and colourless moles that are raised up.

to remove them i'm afraid you have to cut them out. and because of what jennybean was talking about 'roots', you have to cut fairly deep.
So a mole the size of your little finger nail will maybe need a cut the length of your little finger (well, bit less, think i have stubby hands). sometimes this scar left will be pretty good, but sometimes (especially on people's backs and tummies) the scar can be pretty obvious. especially if you happen to get a tan.

my advice - embrace the mole. give it a pet name, and learn to love it.

Reply 4

Jennybean

13

Jamie

THis post sounds familiar...

Well no one could accuse me of being a slow learner :biggrin:

But I did understand the basics of moles and warts et al before you enlightened me further. I shall edit my post to say copyright Jamie 2007.

Warts and Moles - Medics?

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