As bacteria and germs can be found almost everywhere, care for skin after mole removal is essential to prevent and lessen the threat of infection, delayed healing or other possible complications.
After radiosurgery or laser mole removal, you are allowed to wash your skin normally with soap and water. The small wound on the skin would heal in 10 to 15 days and you would not require any dressings. However, you would be asked to apply some antiseptic cream a few times a day.
In case of surgical mole removal procedure or cryosurgery, you may have a dressing covered over your wounds for a couple of days. You would be asked not to wet the area for about 4-5 days after the sutures are removed.
So how do you care for your skin after surgical mole removal procedures?
Here is what you can do at home:
After the procedure, keep a layer of antibiotic salve and a bandage on the wound. It is better that you use an antibiotic ointment, that does not include neomycin, as many people are allergic to neomycin. Necomycin may result in rashes developing at the site. Polysporin is one of the more well-known and easily available brand which you can get, that does not contain neomycin.
Here is the procedure on how you go about caring for your skin after mole removal:
1. Clean your wound once or twice daily with either water and diluted hydrogen peroxide.
2. After cleaning the wound, apply the antibiotic salve and bandage the area up.
3. Repeat this procedure until the wound is healed.
In the event that you had just removed a large mole, and a skin graft is required, you may be advised to wear a pressure garment for a few months to smoothen the skin graft.
Many people have heard of certain untrue and unproven myths and methods about caring for their skin after a mole removal. This misconceptions may result in infections and scarring from happening. Thus, it is best that you ask your local dermatologist about such methods before attempting any of them.
Here are some misconceptions that people have about caring for their skin after removing their moles:
1. Some people think that allowing wounds to be open to the air would help and speed up healing. Several studies have disproved this and out that found people actually heal significantly faster when they cover their wounds with bandages and antibiotic salve.
2. Some people also think that applying Vitamin E on to the wound would speed up the healing. Studies have also shown that Vitamin E has been found to slow healing rather than accelerate it, and scars were shown to be much more obvious when Vitamin E is placed directly on the wounds.