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Other Blemishes & Spots

There are many types of skin lesions that can occur at all ages. Most of these are benign and need no treatment. Some of the commoner ones are:

  1. Seborrhoeic keratoses, also known as Seb K’s, age warts, age spots, senile warts, barnacles and liver spots: These are raised, dry, warty-looking things. They can also be flat, pale or dark. Sometimes they grow almost overnight to a large size and cause great alarm. Many people think they are ugly, or they can be annoying. They are entirely harmless and are not a sign of any underlying disease. They can be ignored or frozen off or shaved off. They are not a sign of old age, but the longer you have been alive, the more time you have had to collect more.
  2. Haemangiomas, also know as Campbell de Morgan spots: Bright red dots on any part of the body, usually the size of a pin-head but occasionally larger. These are overgrowths of little blood capillaries and have no significance. They can be ignored or treated in various ways to try to remove them for cosmetic reasons.
  3. Raised moles: Many perfectly normal moles are raised. They are usually soft and floppy and easily traumatised by waist bands or bras. Sometimes people want to have them removed if they are unsightly or annoying.
  4. Skin tags: These favour the armpits and neck though can be found anywhere. They may be skin coloured or brown and range from tiny to quite large. They can be frozen or shaved off. They are harmless.
  5. Warts: They are hard to treat but entirely harmless and many will disappear on their own if left.
  6. Sebaceous hyperplasia: They usually occur on the forehead or other parts of the face and are a small pale nodule, usually easy to diagnose with a Dermatoscope. They represent overgrown skin glands and are of no particular significance.
  7. Freckles, brown spots, liver spots, white spots: Part of the changes caused by sun damage include flat brown spots on the backs of the hands, scaly brown or pink spots on the legs, white spots on the arms and of course wrinkles. The term “liver spots” is misleading as no brown spot on the skin had any relation to liver problems.

 

IF YOU HAVE EVER HAD A BCC OR IF YOU HAVE A SUSPICIOUS SPOT, CALL US FOR AN APPOINTMENT ON 02 9299 7777