The moles I've removed keep coming back to haunt me

They say to write about what you know, which is why I’ve written about moles precisely umpteen times over the last decade. Between having an archetypally placed “beauty mark” for nearly all of my life (mine is esque) and a career that has granted me access to dermatologist insight, I’ve felt a bit like I have an honorary PhD in moles.

But it turns out I didn’t know as much about moles as I thought — namely, I don’t know why I’m being haunted by the moles of my past. I learned firsthand that some moles never stop growing. When my favorite had gone from tiny in my childhood to pencil eraser sized in my thirties, I was able to get it “debulked.” (It’s a thing!) It’s because I favored that now reduced mole that I felt all other facial moles needed to be evicted so as not to dull its proverbial shine.

But the fact that The Chosen Mole had grown so much should have been a hint to me that removed might also keep growing once they’re allegedly gone. And such has been the case with one of mine. Another mole I’ve had removed hasn’t shown signs of returning; however, the thicker than peach fuzz hairs that grew through it still do with what I can only describe as a vengeance.

In other words, even though I’ve had these moles removed, it seems they have unfinished business. I’m quite sure that I’m not the only person who’s living in a weird dermal remix of “The Cat Came Back,” so I spoke to about why removing a mole doesn’t necessarily mean it’s gone for good.

A mole is, quite simply, a growth made up of clusters of pigment producing melanocyte cells, and most of us have at least a few. There’s more than one way to remove a mole, and none are guaranteed to be final. The first time I had a mole removed from my face, I was a wee high school freshman feeling self conscious about how prominent the mole right next to my nose was looking.

It was a smooth, soft, rather raised nevus — that’s the fancy science word for a mole — that was almost the exact same color as the rest of my skin (I often colored it in with a brown eye pencil), and it felt far less glamorous than the naturally browner, smaller one next to my mouth. I convinced my mom it had to go.

The central Jersey dermatologist I went to (whose name escapes me after all these years) said that this mole would be an ideal candidate for a shave excision, which is exactly what it sounds like: A is used to remove the mole right at the surface of the skin, reducing the likelihood of a scar. I didn't get a scar but, over the course of 30 years, what I did get was the same mole.

It’s not quite as raised as it was when I was on the JV tennis team, but it is very much visible and tangible. And I am very much displeased. “When a mole is treated with a shave removal, often the part of the mole that is removed is at or above the surface,” New York City based board certified dermatologist , MD, tells me.

“Since some of the mole is typically still present below the surface, there is always the chance that it returns.” And some moles are all the more likely to make a triumphant return after being shaved off. According to Connecticut based dermatologist , MD, there are different types of moles in which the cells are dermal — or deeper — at the junction of the epidermis and dermis.

“There are also moles we have had since birth, or congenital, in which the mole cells track even deeper down the hair follicles,” she explains. “In essence, the deeper the mole cells go, the more likely they are to repopulate and for the mole to regrow.” Speaking of , interestingly (to me, at least), the mole next to my nose was never a hair sprouter.

However, the one situated under the left side of my mouth, kind of in the chin area, was a prolific producer of hair. That’s not the main reason I removed that one — I never minded plucking, I just preferred having one noticeable mole instead of two. And when the time came to remove it in my late twenties, I decided to risk a scar and remove it via punch biopsy.

“A punch biopsy goes deeper than a shave biopsy to gather cells from the epidermis, dermis, and the top layer of fat under the skin,” Dr. Mraz says, adding that it’s not unusual to need stitches to close the resulting wound. It’s also not unusual to get a little scar, which I did. And while it was one more way a mole leaves a legacy, I didn’t mind that scar until I realized that the same cluster of coarse hairs was pushing its way through the scar and immediately surrounding skin.

“It is not unusual to see the hairs continue to poke through after a mole is removed,” Dr. Mraz says. Oh, but it sure is annoying. Moles are often associated with noticeable hair because, according to a published in the scientific journal , they may have a higher amount of a protein called osteopontin, which promotes hair growth.

And unfortunately, those hairs can be very stubborn. “While there are situations when hairs that are associated with a mole are completely removed when the mole is removed, there are some hair follicles that may not arise from the mole itself, or the hair follicle may arise at a point that is deeper than the mole, so they may still appear even after the mole is removed, and the area has healed,” Dr.

Garshick says. Just like I didn’t mind plucking the hairs when I had the mole, I don’t mind plucking them now — except, because the scar tissue has given them a thicker wall to break through, I’m in a never ending cycle of skin inflaming which, as you might have guessed, looks a lot less cute than a small mole did.

Although I’ll probably always have the scar, there a way to finish off the prickly remnants of this mole. “You can use to destroy the hair follicle and permanently prevent the hair from growing back,” Dr. Mraz assures me. (If you’re in a similarly hairy post mole removal boat, just make sure the wound is healed first.) Ultimately, your best bet for thoroughly removing a mole is to have a dermatologist fully excise it with a margin of clear skin around it — at least two millimeters, Dr.

Mraz says. But I’ve learned the hard way that, whether it grows back, keeps growing hair, or leaves a scar, moles find a way to leave their (beauty) mark forever..