What is a benign mole?

Question

Hi doctor,

I am concerned about a lump or bump that appeared under my mole. One day, I woke up with inflammation around my mole. As there were no changes in my mole, I thought it was a pimple and I applied some skin cream. It stayed inflamed and swollen for around five to six days and then it became a lump under that mole. After two weeks, I went to see my GP and he told me that it is a benign mole. What is it? Also, he said he will get it removed for me and referred me to a clinic to get it done. I doubt whether it is a tumor. Does it have cancerous cells? It is there over a month now. I have also realized that it moved slightly down from my mole and as far as I remember it shrank, but a little. I do not know what it is. When I search on the internet, it always pops up the symptoms of a melanoma. Could you help me with this?

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

With your descriptions, it seems that you are having a mole with secondary infections. If you can send pictures of this, then it will be better for me to suggest diagnosis, treatment and alleviate your anxiety. Mole, so called melanocytic nevus, if you frequently touch your mole it may get infected. They are considered benign melanomas and nothing actively needs to be done for them. If the mole shows sudden changes, such as increase in size, differential pigmentation, bleeding, irregular borders, etc., then you may go for a skin biopsy. But, in your case, it initially requires oral antibiotics like tablet Azithromycin 500 mg once daily for three days and topical cream Fusidic acid local application twice daily for five days. Once the infection gets controlled, then you can go for removal. For removal, you may choose any one of the treatment options. Shave excision under local anesthesia by a dermatologist, TCA (trichloroacetic acid) cautery, radiofrequency cautery or laser treatment.

What is a benign mole?

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