Mole Removal surgery + places?

theTinker

I hope this is the right forum, I could not find a health related one besides fitness which didnt seem right.

I intend to have mole removal surgery on my face near christmas(when i'm due holidays). I'm finding it difficult to find places which seem to have good results(not on thier website).
so a few questions.
I have a medical card, Can I use this to cover the expenses?
I have a friend who was refered to James hospital for the same operation.
Can anyone estimate the waiting time i would have to wait before i could get it done in james?
And does anyone know if they have good results from it?

'd rather pay money then be left with bad scarring so i want a good place.
Can anyone also recomend a place in dublin they know first hand is good at this? I would like a laser to be used because there seems to be less scarring with it
Thanks

kizzyr

theTinker wrote:

I hope this is the right forum, I could not find a health related one besides fitness which didnt seem right.

I intend to have mole removal surgery on my face near christmas(when i'm due holidays). I'm finding it difficult to find places which seem to have good results(not on thier website).
so a few questions.
I have a medical card, Can I use this to cover the expenses?
I have a friend who was refered to James hospital for the same operation.
Can anyone estimate the waiting time i would have to wait before i could get it done in james?
And does anyone know if they have good results from it?

'd rather pay money then be left with bad scarring so i want a good place.
Can anyone also recomend a place in dublin they know first hand is good at this? I would like a laser to be used because there seems to be less scarring with it
Thanks

As the mole is on your face I would strongly recommend St. James's for this procedure. While all hospitals in this country come in for a bashing, James's is most likely the leading hospital in the country. I worked there for a few years and know that they are leading the way in many things. I work in another major hospital in Dublin now and in comparison they have a long way to go.
Have you got a referral for the procedure yet? If so contact the consultant who will be carrying this out for you and you should be given a time from them. However because you are on a medical card and will be getting this done as a public patient in a public ward there is always a chance that the procedure will be cancelled at short notice so you should also ask what the likelyhood of this is too.

panda100

Heya.I had a mole removed from my face and with every medical procedure theres gonna be a scar left. However,there are things to do to reduce the scarring.
I took arnica before the operation which really helped the healing process.
Also if you rub vitamin e oil into the scar after the op the scar will be dramatically reduced.
I got mine removed by Dr Waterhouse in Harley street in London cos I lived over there at the time. He was brill!
Good luck:)

katiemac

Ask your GP to refer you to a dermatologist. You can visit dermatologist as a private or public patient.
I had small moles removed by an excellent dermatologist at the Bonds Hospital, Glasnevin a few years ago. There was no scarring.
I was given a local anaesthetic and the procedure took less than 15 minutes.

joebhoy1916

Doesnt your doctors do it?

I had one removed from my neck he just stuck the needle in then cut it off

Tak3n

hey,

i had one taken off the side of my face, only took about 5 minutes and was done in the hospital in mulingar. my medical stuff covered it all

theTinker

joebhoy1916 wrote:

Doesnt your doctors do it?

I had one removed from my neck he just stuck the needle in then cut it off

I never heard of a doctor just doing there and then.

Thanks for the replys so far, Obviously with the moles being on my face and more than one, i would be terribly dissapointed with bad scarring. They just make shaving and stuff so difficult and get irriated easily + i hate they way they look.

Has anyone had any experience in lasercenter.ie place in dublin? its a very handy location for me.

@katiemac: Can you remember the name of the dermetologist u had?

LegacyUser

I have had a load of moles removed in the laser center including a few on my face. The laser gradually fades the mole so depending on the mole it may take a few visits. Since the laser doesn't cut the skin there is no scar. No local anaesthetic was required and the laser is no more pain than getting an injection. It took 10 sessions (roughly 1 a month) where i got about 50 or so moles (and scars left previously by dermatologist!) removed and it cost arount 700 euro. They are covered under vhi and buba.

Before I went to the laser center I had moles removed by a dermatologist (also in Bonds Hospital, Glasnevin) which always left small, sometimes big, scars and cost a fortune (best part of a grand per visit!).

theTinker

oh my new job(1.5 weeks)!
They put me on some bupa plan thingy. I pay 50% and they pay 50% per month. I never even thought of it, you probably just saved me a fortune.

@ Mr Mole: When you say "they are covered by bupa and vhi", U mean mole removal surgery? Or that the lasercentre accepts it?(prolly stupid Q but i'm a noob at this stuff)
If you have had 50 or so removed, it must be a very good place to not leave scars over that large of an area.

I didnt know the laser takes sessions. Tbh I didn't know it makes it fade gradually either and thought it cuts it out.

Basically the are raised moles, not huge but it makes shaving etc difficult. 1 baby finger nail sized one and 2 smaller ones right beside each other.
Actually talking about it so openly really helps For some reason i was embarrassed about it before i posted here and told my friends.

Since i have a medical card atm, I think its valid to the end of the year, Ill go see my doctor tomorrow and see what he says.

theTinker

So I figured too many personal issues never get closure

I have had the 3 moles on my face that i mentioned previously removed.
2 on left cheek, 1 on right cheek.
Heres how it all happened: I filled out an online form for a consultation with "Advance cosmetic surgery" and "lasercentre.ie". The laser place never got back in touch even after i filled out a second form. The ACS did however within 2 days. So i had my consultation and the consult surgeon said the moles on my face would have to be cut out with a knife because they were raised so they most likely had roots. I think she was right because i could always feel veins or something below them. I always assumed it was hair follicles though. So with laser ruled out i knew i would have to have some kind of scarring. Last monday i rang up and asked for an appointment around nowish since i had christmas holidays so i had time to heal before i go back to work. They were happy to help and i had one for a week later.
Yesterday i went for my 6:45 appointment and by 7:45 i was on the table. The room was coldish but they put a blanket on me and a heater underneath so i was in a big bubble of hot air AWESOME!.
They gave me locals to my face and began the job. The operation wasnt painful at all, just slightly odd feeling someone pull a moles root from ur face. It like they were weeds lol. I did a lil mediate which kept my mind off it.
They put stiches in so i have to go back in a few days to have them out(the 28th). It hurts a lil now, like tiny ant bites but i guess thats nerves regrowing. Its kinda itchy today.
So i was quite impressed by how ACS organised everything quickly and smoothly, the doctors and the nurses were awesome and couldnt be nicer. Ill update this with scarring progress n such.
After my stiches are out and the wounds are closed, i'll be using something called "bio oil" that i got in boots. Every report ive read on google says its really really great and my friend recommended it to me. A slightly odd smell on some reviews which i dont find myself as i used it a few times before surgery hoping it would help. A lil expensive on other reviews but no one seems to disagree on the results. SO HOPEFULLY i wont be the black sheep for the product.

Thats my story so far

condra

Best of luck with the healing mate.

I know how you feel being worried about facial scarring.
I have shingles on my lower face and neck at the moment and it seems likely that there will be a little scarring.

Im also going to see the dermo people in The Mater after Christmas, they will hopefully be removing a huge mole from my lower abdomen.
It has grown to be the size of a pea in the last 9 months.

LegacyUser

bio oil is very good for scarring etc.

but I would also advice you to buy vitamin e capsules. burst one and rub the gel onto the area the mole was removed. its very effective

maybe use that at night and bio oil during the day

theTinker

Well this story is about to take a nose dive.
The swelling went down enough on a fairly large post mole removal area and guess f*c*ing what? They didnt remove one of the moles.......
I'm so angry right now.

I had an area with 2 moles growing really close together, I pointed to the location and said i wanted it removed, technically i didnt say both moles, but i didnt ****ing say one mole. They are on top of each other, why the hell would i only want one removed...!?!

He drew a circle around the moles to be removed and both moles were well within it so it never even occured to me that one would be left. Why the hell would i want one mole removed when 2 moles are growing right beside each other!!

It broke my ****ing heart to see it still there. Going to that surgery is not something i did for fun, it took time, effort, money and quite a bit of courage in myself to have it all done knowing there would be scarring and healing time on my face. This is so fustrating! I have this time off work and extended it with personal holidays to give me plenty of time to heal so i dont have to go into work with red sores or stiches, i'd never have enough time to get it done now, and even if i did, with the directly adjoining skin already bruised and opened, would it not make it a really batter area to cut open thus leaving a worse scar?

I cant believe this has just happened...the stupid little circle had the moles in the center!!!

condra

Very sorry to hear that.

I think at the very least, you deserve an explanation as to why they didnt remove it.