Is it ok to use a laser to burn off a mole?

Just don't do it. Essentially most moles are benign melanoma's, which could very well be on your body for the rest of your life without causing any problem at all.

One thing that is most important is to leave them alone, certainly avoid damaging them with lasers or anything else.

If you get them removed surgically, a relatively big portion of tissue is excised with them, to prevent damaging them and spreading the content in the bloodstream. Mostly that is just a precaution, but if they turn out to be agressive melanomas it is worth every effort to damage them inside your body.

Telling the difference between bening an malignent melanoma's is virtually impossible without lab analysis - even dermatologists don't tell by just looking at them. If you would rupture a malignant melanoma with a laser you could kill yourself in a matter of months, despite you could otherwise have lived out the rest of your lifetime without ever touching it.

Another future canidate for the Darwin awards.

The Darwin Awards: Chlorinating the Gene Pool! Culling the Herd. Unnatural Selection.
Those who improve our gene pool… by removing themselves from it!!!

If he was going to ask ahead of time we could have saved him. Alas there isn't much that can be done now. The wheels have been set in motion. Short wavelength laser exposure, when it should have been long wavelength done by a professional.

Edit: "People who have moles on their skin may have a lower incidence of certain age-related diseases."

"In Medieval Europe, among those accused of demonic possession, ecclesiastical edicts interpreted large warts and moles on the skin as physical signs of the entry point of the devil into the soul."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_(skin_marking)

I dont know about darwin awards... you can only get on if you die before you reproduce, and melanomas are the thing that can sort of sit there for decades, and kill you quite quickly at a certain point. I'm sure poking them with a laser will accelerate the process, but its no guarantee...

I know these are green diodes but,
"Kaai demonstrates 523 nm CW green laser diode

Jan 14, 2010

January 14, 2010--Kaai, Inc. (Goleta, CA), a company on the leading edge in commercializing green and blue laser diodes, has demonstrated green laser diodes emitting at 523 nm, the longest continuous-wave (CW) green laser-diode emission reported to date ...

Kaai's lasers are based on indium gallium nitride (InGaN) semiconductor technology and are fabricated on innovative nonpolar and semipolar GaN substrates. Direct diode green lasers offer dramatic improvements in size, weight, and cost over conventional gas or solid-state lasers (such as conventional green laser pointers) and enable a variety of new applications ... , biomedical instrumentation and therapeutics"

Kaai demonstrates 523 nm CW green laser diode - OptoIQ


"Ultraviolet radiation is composed of three wavelengths: UVA, UVB and UVC. While UVC isn't a concern for skin cancer, UVA and UVB play different roles when it comes to tanning, burning, and photoaging. "
The Skin Cancer Foundation - Shining Light on Ultraviolet Radiation | UV Information


If he used 532nm he should be clear from the cancer uv spectrum. If you live in California then just waking up in the morning can cause cancer. From the plastic alarm clock you touch to the rubber steering wheel cover you drive with. Everything causes cancer these days.


Let us all not forget that some idiot put a key on a string while flying a kite in a lightning storm. I'm not advising for or against this thread but the info is welcome, so you haters should quit being so negative. Life is to short for bashing threads that go on for weeks... well maybe shorter now for R3ddrag0n=)

Everything causes cancer in California.
The reason is: parents keep their kids too clean, people avoid getting sick, they eat too little meat and too much tofu.
The human body is inherently lazy, you sit in front of the computer for too many hours, you lose muscle mass.
Likewise for out immune system, during the developmental stages if you are not exposed to fungi, bacteria, viruses, etc. Your immune system will never develop properly.
Asprin, tylenol, advil, etc. All affect the nervous system, a few aren't going to hurt you but popping them like candy every time you feel less than invincible is going to have a negative long term effect because the nervous "modifiers" are telling your body that everything is fine.
If you are trying to live a longer life, here is a tip: Stop eating sugar, it has been proven that one tablespoon of refined sugar can diminish your immune system's capacity to fight :evil: by up to 1/3rd.
I'm not going to take my own advice as I have a sweet tooth like no other but a laser to the skin for 10 seconds (even to a mole) is going to do a lot less damage than a diet of junk food, too much sugar, and too many nervous system modifiers (salicylic acid, acetaminophen, etc.).
Besides, lasers are fun and that is entire purpose of life.
Have at 'er. Medical advances are made all the time XD

I am not responsible for what I say and anyone basing their diet/lifestyle on what I say without doing some research on their own is an idiot ^_^

hakzaw1 said:

Another future canidate for the Darwin awards.

The Darwin Awards: Chlorinating the Gene Pool! Culling the Herd. Unnatural Selection.
Those who improve our gene pool… by removing themselves from it!!!

Click to expand...

Benm said:

I dont know about darwin awards... you can only get on if you die before you reproduce, and melanomas are the thing that can sort of sit there for decades, and kill you quite quickly at a certain point. I'm sure poking them with a laser will accelerate the process, but its no guarantee...

Click to expand...

.......well that may depend WHERE the said mole was located--if it was on his 'willy' he may not do much reproducin' :crackup:

Well, im sorry for posting here since an old topic but i couldn't avoid.

I know i can't say much since i'm in the first year of medical school. Self-surgery isn't a good idea, you don't know what caused the mole, you have no ideia of tissue recovering and safety regarding skin complications you may cause. I don't know how laser skin wound are, but what i know is: A simple skin wound can cause serious complications, probably even bigger complications if we have radiation involved. I think the kind of laser you used is strong enough to split your DNA into pieces, and if it's done in a specific time of cell replication the enzimes won't fix it and you'll get yourself a nice cancer...

*Talking about melanomas caused by ionizing radiation: The chances are so little, our cells have spectacular enzimes to fix DNA almost allways in their lifecycle. The problem is after the G1 (one of replication periods) when the enzime won't be active until next replication. If that happens, the modification on the DNA is done...

Its an old thread, but i feel link i have to chime in for a bit here: The wavelength used as such has very little carcinogenic potential, it's 532 nm green light that is commonly available in both sunlight and artificial light.

The problem is with the 'moles' themselves. They can be innocent pigmentation markings that can stay with you for life without ill effect, but also small melanomas that will lead to deadly consequences if damaged. These are things that should be either left in place, or removed completely with some margin around them.

Even a dermatologist cannot make an accurate diagnosis by just looking at the spot. The procedure for removal involves cutting out the entire mole with a few mm or margin, after which the biopt is analyzed. If it turns out to be a melanoma, even more of the surrounding tissue is excised as a precaution.

If you were to cut into a melanoma using a laser, or some random sharp object, you will increase chances of metastasis greatly. I cannot stress the danger of this enough: This is not some one-in-million chance, if any cells from the melanoma make it into your bloodstream, your chances of living even another year are slim.

Metastasis of melanoma is almost certain death - its a very aggressive type of cancer that can invade most organs quite easily. Developing a mold inside your liver, lung or heart may seem like an outragous idea, but it kills people by the thousands each year.