Is it painful to remove moles?

We use local anaesthetic for potentially painful surgical procedures to reduce discomfort. Many of the procedures we use are almost painless or the pain is extremely brief.

When we remove moles using surgical techniques such as laser, radiofrequency surgery, shave excision or electrocautery, we first inject the area with a local anaesthetic to make it numb. The local anaesthetic stings for only a few seconds. After that, you may feel pressure, warmth or stretching during the procedure, but no pain.

Intense pulsed light or broad band light, used for removing freckles, age spots and small blood vessels such as angiomas, is an extremely powerful light lasting a fraction of a second. It’s usually briefly uncomfortable, but not actually painful if a single skin lesion is being treated.

Cryotherapy, sometimes used for the treatment of seborrhoeic keratoses, may result in mild pain for 20-30 seconds.