If you have a seborrheic keratosis you’d like removed, book a consultation or surgery date now.
We offer rapid access for consultation and short waitlist for surgery.
If you have a referral from your family physician, the consultation fee ($150 + HST) will be waived.
How do I treat seborrheic keratosis?
What does seborrheic keratosis excision entail?
What is the recovery time?
Is there a cost?
How do I book my surgery?
Seborrhiec Keratosis
What is a Seborrheic Keratosis?
These are common, harmless, non-cancerous skin growth that looks waxy, scaly, or "stuck-on," appearing as tan, brown, or black spots, usually on the face, back, or chest. They become more frequent with age, often starting in middle adulthood.
Sometimes these may be irritated or catch on clothes. Patients may also be bothered by its appearance. Otherwise, they are by large asymptomatic.
For most my patients, no treatment is required and these are completely benign.
Some patients will be bothered by its appearance or they become irritated. In these cases, treatment may be done non-surgically with cryotherapy. These will require several treatments and for large lesions these may not fully remove them. For recurrent or large lesions, surgical excision will offer the most definitive treatment.
An incision slightly longer than the lesion is required. Dissolvable sutures are used to close the incision. I often do not have any follow-up scheduled with my patients, but if you have any issues please do not hesitate to call my office.
The benefits of the surgery:
This will remove the lesion completely and prevent future infections.
We send all lesions off for pathology so we can diagnosis what the lesion is, often times this just confirms what we already know
What are the risks of surgery?
All surgeries will make a scar. If the lesion is small, I often tell my patients they are trading a small bump for a small scar.
All surgeries may cause infection, nerve injury, bleeding, or persistent pain.
Infection ranges from 1-5%. Patients who have diabetes, use nicotine products, or have an autoimmune disease are at higher risks. If you use nicotine products please stop this 4 weeks before and after your surgery. A mild infection may have some increased pain or redness and can be treated with antibiotics. More severe infections may require the wound to be opened up again and long-term IV antibiotics.
Nerve injury to the nerve is always possible although very rare and dependent on the area on the body it is being removed.
There is no significant bleeding from this procedure, but the wound can ooze blood. If this happens, please place firm pressure on the wound for 10 minutes and this should stop. If it does not, please call our office or present to your nearest emergency department for an assessment.
Persistent pain may continue after surgery either due to scar tissue or sensitive nerves after surgery. This often goes away, but can be quite distressing. I will continue to follow you closely until this improves.
Most patients to take 4 week to fully recover. Location of the lesion and size are significant factors. Lesions located on the lower extremity or large lesions will require more recovery. Some patients may take longer due to scar tissue pain. I ask patients a minimum of two weeks to let the sutures heal if they cannot take four weeks off work. This is to let the sutures heal the wound. The sutures are strong, but not invincible!
You will be provide with a post-operative instruction sheet to guide you on healing. The dressing can come off after 3-5 days and washed with soap and water. The sutures will start dissolving between 2-4 weeks. After four weeks, if the wound has completely healed there are no restrictions.
I ask all my patients to not place their surgical site in any still bodies of water until the wound has healed - this includes bathtubs, jacuzzis, beaches, and no dishes for the next month. (I can write a prescription if your spouse does not believe you!) This is to prevent any infections.
These lesions are not covered by OHIP. The size and location of the lesion will impact the cost of your surgery
If you have a referral from your family physician, the consultation fee is waived. Otherwise, there will be a consultation fee of $150 + HST.
If you have a seborrheic keratosis you would like assessed, we are happy to book you in with rapid access for a consultation and a short waitlist for surgery.
If you would like the consultation fee ($150+HST) waived, please have your family physician send a referral.