Lesions

Seborrheic Keratoses (SK)

The most common type of skin lesion, Seborrheic Keratoses (SK), has an unknown cause, but tends to appear on elderly patients, specifically on areas that have been frequently exposed to sun, such as the face, neck, and trunk. SKs have distinct shapes and a color that ranges anywhere from tan to dark brown. They can look “glued on” when they form a crusty, wart-like exterior. Some patients mistake SKs for skin cancer or melanoma, but these lesions don’t have malignant potential. Because they appear only on the surface of your skin, we have great success removing them without leaving scars.

Actinic Keratosis (AK)

We find Actinic Keratosis (AK) lesions most commonly on patients with fair skin who’ve spent a lot of time in the sun. AK premalignant lesions appear flat, superficial, and crusty, and vary in color from red, brown, and white depending on how thick the crusty skin over the lesion appears. AKs can grow over time, getting thicker and slowly transitioning into squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

What’s our Solution?

When we treat AKs, we try to completely remove the lesions without damaging the underlying, healthy skin. You can apply topical creams and lotions to individual lesions or to the entire affected area. You can also try an immunomodulator drug topically, which can be very effective. With more extreme cases, we spray liquid nitrogen onto individual lesions to “freeze” them away. If you have deep lesions and large affected areas, we use curettage (scraping), dermabrasion, and deep chemical peels. The CO2 laser provides the most most precise treatment method with the selective vaporization option.

Sebaceous Hyperplasia or Adenomas

Sebaceous Hyperplasia or Adenomas, benign growths or enlarged sebaceous glands, appear most commonly on the facial skin of patients over 30. We see them most often on cheeks, noses, and foreheads. If these growths aren’t treated right away, they’ll multiply and create a pebbled appearance over the skin. Some people mistake the lobulated appearance with basal cell. Our solution includes superficially removing them with freezing, cauterization, or laser.

Skin Tags (Acrochordons)

Skin tags, technically called Acrochordons, don’t contain malignant potential and are fairly common in anyone over 20. You’ll find them most often in armpits, groin, and especially the neck. Beginning as a tiny brown lump, they can grow to be a pea-sized nodule hanging from the skin by a small stalk. We remove them with scissors, cauterization, or CO2 laser with little trouble.