Excision of Skin tags and Moles using Ellman RadioFrequency

Ellman Radiofrequency can be used to remove most skin lesions with local anesthesia, with minimal recovery and the least noticeable scar.

Skin tags are very common soft harmless lesions that appear to hang off the skin. They are also described as:

  • Acrochordons

  • Papillomas

  • Fibroepithelial polyps

  • Soft fibromas

  • Pedunculated (this means they are on a stalk)

  • Filiform (this means they are thread-like)

Skin tags develop in both men and women as they grow older. They are skin coloured or darker and range in size from 1mm to 5cm. They are most often found in the skin folds (neck, armpits, groin). They tend to be more numerous in obese persons and in those with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Seborrhoeic keratoses, viral warts or molluscum contagiosum may resemble skin tags.

Skin tags are made up of loosely arranged collagen fibres and blood vessels surrounded by a thickened or thinned-out epidermis.

Moles

The medical term for a mole is a NEVUS (mole is Latin for “spot.”). Nevi are the plural of nevus. Congenital nevi are moles present at birth; acquired nevi develop anytime later. Nevi are made up of a particular type of cell, and the name is used to distinguish them from other, similar appearing fleshy growths.

Most moles that are acquired during life are usually less than 1/4 inch in size. Many of those that form in childhood and early adult life are now thought to be due to sun damage. Most people think of a mole as being a dark brown spot, but moles have a much wider range of appearance. They can be raised from the skin and very noticeable, or they may contain dark hairs. Having hairs in a mole doesn’t make it more dangerous. Moles can appear anywhere on the skin, alone or grouped. They usually are brown in color and can be various sizes and shapes. Special cells that contain the pigment melanin cause the brown color.

Facial moles are probably are determined before a person is born. Some may not appear until later in life, but moles that appear after age 50 should be regarded with suspicion. Moles may darken, which can happen after exposure to the sun, pregnancy and sometimes during therapy with certain steroid drugs. There is little risk of melanoma cancer developing in these moles.

Atypical moles (dysplastic nevi or Clarks nevi)

An estimated one out of every 10 Americans has at least one atypical mole. These moles are larger than common moles, with borders that are irregular and poorly defined. Atypical moles also vary in color, ranging from tan to dark brown shades on a pink background. They have irregular borders that may include notches. They may fade into surrounding skin and include a flat portion level with the skin. These are some of the features that one sees when looking at a melanoma. When a pathologist looks at an atypical mole under the microscope, it has features that are in-between a normal mole and a melanoma.

While atypical moles are considered to be pre-cancerous (more likely to turn into melanoma than regular moles), not everyone who has atypical moles gets melanoma. In fact, most moles — both ordinary and atypical ones — never become cancerous. Thus the removal of all atypical nevi is unnecessary. In fact, half of the melanomas found on people with atypical moles arise from normal skin and not an atypical mole.