Skin lesions
Skin lesions are very common and range from innocent lumps and bumps through to more serious conditions including malignant melanomas, basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas.
It is usually possible to make a diagnosis by simply inspecting the lesion. In general we would advise that all lumps are removed and sent for histological examination. Common innocent lumps include lipomas, areas of fatty tissue, sebaceous cysts (these are the oil glands located within the skin) and lumps in association with scars.
Most of these can be excised using local anaesthetic after which the wounds are closed using a buried dissolvable suture, often leaving no scar. Any skin lesion which looks suspicious is usually excised with a wide margin and sent for histological examination. Further treatment may be required once that information is available.
We are able to offer an advisory service to advise on the importance of removing these lesions and also long-term follow up. Our general policy is to remove any lesion which has the potential to become nasty.