If you take a closer look at your body or people around you, you will be surprised to find that everyone has more or less superfluous organisms on their face or body of different sizes, some flat, some spherical, hemispherical and in various colors, which are commonly known as nevus. And in medical terms, it is called a mole. Are there good and bad moles? In life, we often hear that some people are lucky to have good moles, and which moles are bad to have bad moles, and are not good for husbands, etc. Are these statements scientifically true? Let’s start with what moles are!
There are many different kinds of moles and different forms. Among the various moles, pigmented moles are the most common. Pimented naevus, also known as naevocytic naevus and melanocytic naevus, is a benign tumor composed of localized aggregation of nevus cells. It is quite common, with at least a dozen pigmented nevi on the surface of each adult’s skin, and some even hundreds of them, and most of them are dark brown or black in color, and some are colorless. The surface is smooth or elevated, papillomatous or tipped, and the hairs on it may be more or less, and some of them are hairy. Most of them are small in size; however, some of them have huge growth or wide range. Pigmented nevi can be found on all parts of the skin, mostly on the face, neck and back, and also on the mucous membranes (such as the mouth, lips, lid and conjunctiva, glans, labia, etc.). They can be present at birth or gradually appear after 2 years of age. Most grow slowly or persist for years without change, but rarely fade spontaneously. The presence of moles generally has no effect on human health, but because they can resemble the appearance of lesions of many skin diseases and can become malignant, it is important to know about moles.
In medical science, according to the location of nevus cells in the skin, pigmented nevi can be divided into junctional nevi, compound nevi and intradermal nevi.
(1) Junctional nevus: its nevus cells and nevus cell nests are mainly located in the lower part of skin epidermis or protrude downward into the dermis. They are mostly found on the palms of hands, soles of feet, lips and external genitalia, which are prone to friction. The surface is flat or slightly protruding, and the area is often between 1 and 50 px, with light brown, brown-black or blue-black pigment distribution, and individual boundaries are not very clear. There is a tendency of malignant transformation.
(2) Intradermal nevus: its cells and cell nests are gathered in the dermis. Papilloma-like lesions and almost all hemispherical and tipped lesions are intradermal nevi. They are often accompanied by hair growth. The color is uniform and dark, light brown or dark brown-black ink-black. Generally, no malignant transformation occurs.
(3) Mixed nevus: With the characteristics of intradermal nevus and junctional nevus, the nevus cell mass is located in the basal cell layer of epidermis and dermis. Because of the junctional nevus component, it has the possibility of malignant transformation.
(4) Blue nevus is relatively rare, more frequent in childhood, and usually occurs on the buttocks, back of hands and back of feet. Pathological examination shows that pigment cells are concentrated in groups and irregularly in the lower third of the dermis, which is deeper. The blue color is due to the presence of collagen beam light reflection on the superficial surface of the pigment cell layer, and is mostly benign, with very few malignant changes.
Now you understand, the goodness of moles has nothing to do with where they grow, but with what nature of moles. In medical science, junction moles and compound moles are generally recommended to be treated because of the tendency of malignant transformation, while the so-called lucky moles and evil moles in life are all nonsense.
Now you have a certain understanding of moles, so do pigmented moles need to be treated?
Most of the pigmented moles on our body are intradermal moles, and very few of them are malignant, so they usually do not need treatment. Some people listen to the nonsense of some charlatans and think that some moles will affect their fortune or marriage, so they use the so-called secret recipes of some charlatans to treat moles, and even spot moles on the street without sterilization; some people use the so-called secret recipes to take corrosive substances to spot moles at will; these are very dangerous behaviors, which can cause scar formation in light cases, and can cause malignant transformation of pigmented moles in heavy cases, which can endanger life and should be resolutely opposed. This should be firmly opposed. If you need treatment for cosmetic purposes or special industry requirements, you should carefully choose the treatment method and choose a regular hospital dermatology, plastic surgery or cosmetic surgery to seek treatment instead of going to a beauty salon, because after all, this is medical cosmetology, and only a physician with a license and a hospital with a corresponding sterilized operating room is qualified to perform this treatment. Before the treatment, you should fully communicate with the physician and inform him/her of 1. the purpose and requirements of the treatment, 2. the nature of the mole you have and whether it has the tendency to become malignant, 3. whether the treatment you receive is freezing, CO2 laser or surgery, 4. the reliability and feasibility of the method. Can it cause new complications, such as scar formation, etc. 5. No treatment is perfect, everyone’s skin quality, nature of the mole, and the degree of recovery are different, so be psychologically prepared and think thoroughly before treatment to avoid regrets.
Therefore, the best choice is to go to a hospital for a clear diagnosis first, and then ask a dermatologist or cosmetic surgeon to treat the mole, which can achieve the purpose of mole removal and meet the cosmetic effect.
There are currently two methods for the treatment of pigmented moles.
First, non-surgical treatment: limited to small, superficial and clearly diagnosed pigmented moles. The methods are liquid nitrogen freezing and carbon dioxide laser treatment.
1, liquid nitrogen freezing treatment: freezing is a treatment method that uses low temperature to destroy the lesion tissue. Freezing can also slow down the local blood flow, stagnate or embolize the microvascular blood and cause cell death due to oxygen deprivation, resulting in necrosis and debridement of the lesion tissue to achieve the treatment purpose. Smaller nevi (diameter <3mm) can be treated by liquid nitrogen freezing, because freezing treatment is difficult to grasp because of the depth of freezing from the surface to the deeper layers, the cure rate is low, blisters and redness can appear after the operation, and the cure time is longer. At the same time, melanocytes are especially sensitive to ultra-low temperature in cryotherapy, so pigmentation or hypopigmentation can easily occur. Larger nevi should be removed surgically and examined pathologically.
2.Laser surgery
CO 2 laser works on biological tissues by outputting far-infrared laser with a wavelength of 1060nm, which is mainly thermal effect. The laser energy is absorbed by the tissues and transformed into heat energy, causing the local temperature to grow up to several hundred degrees or higher in a very short time, thus causing tissue degeneration, coagulative necrosis, carbonization and vaporization. Laser treatment has a clearer field of vision than cryosurgery, and the anatomical levels are well defined, so that the lesions can be removed more accurately and thoroughly, with a high cure rate and little damage to the normal tissues around the lesions compared to cryosurgery. As long as the surgery is done properly, the operator can not leave any pigment after the surgery as long as he operates carefully and uses the laser correctly, and the patient can recover without leaving any trace or slight trauma (except for scar quality), and with good postoperative trauma protection and medication, very good results can be obtained. It has an extremely significant effect on cosmetology. The scar formation is mainly related to the surgery too deep or the postoperative lesions become infected. After laser treatment, pay attention to the protection of the operated surface, keep the wound surface dry and forbid contact with water, and let the scab fall off by itself, it will heal in about 2 weeks.
However, if the mole is larger or deeper, repeated treatment and stimulation may cause malignant changes, so laser mole removal should be done carefully!
Second, surgical treatment: complete removal is the principle. However, if it is a giant mole, or a multiple scattered pigmented mole, it can only be selectively excised. Small areas can be directly sutured, while larger areas require skin implants.
Indications for surgery include: junctional nevi that are initially determined to occur on the palms, soles of the feet, lips of the mouth, vulva and other parts that often suffer from abrasion and those with prodromal symptoms of malignant transformation should be removed at once. Intradermal nevi that affect the appearance can be removed at once or in stages.
Pigmented nevus is a congenital benign tumor composed of pigment cells, and most of them are benign; in later stages, there are malignant nevi, and once a pigmented nevus becomes malignant, its malignancy degree is extremely high, and its metastasis rate is also the fastest, and the treatment effect is not ideal. It is worth noting that if any of the following changes occur in a mole, it may be a sign of malignancy.
1. The pigmented nevus rapidly and significantly increases in size or area and deepens in color; or a solid nodule appears beneath it.
2. Rapid deepening and darkening of color or appearance of inflammatory redness around it. The border is blurred and the pigment expands radially.
3.Often ulcers, ulcers or bleeding occur on the surface.
4.A black dotted satellite foci appear nearby.
5.Local pain, itching, burning sensation or hair loss occurs
6.Adjacent regional lymph node enlargement.
Once some of the above manifestations appear, you should go to hospital for examination in time to avoid delaying the treatment. At this time, you should first choose surgery to remove the lesion, and at the same time, pathological examination should be conducted on the removed lesion to clarify whether there is cancer.