Minor Skin Surgery

Lesions treated: verrucas, warts, seborrheoic keratoses, molluscum contagiosum, skin tags, actinic keratoses  

Detail: Suitable for certain skin lesions, typically smaller lesions amenable to cryotherapy. This involves carefully targeted freezing of a lesion using medical grade liquid nitrogen, that is cooler (-196°C) & more effective than alternatives such as cryopen & histofreeze treatments. 

Appointment type: Direct to treatment.  

Lesions treated: skin tags, seborrheic keratosis, wart like lesions 

Detail: Shave excision is a treatment used to remove certain skin lesions as above. It involves injecting a small amount of local anaesthetic to the base of the lesion and using a blade to shave off the lesion from the surrounding normal skin.  

Lesions treated: moles and other benign lesions 

Detail: An excision is a procedure to cut out skin, performed under local anaesthetic. The lesion is cut away from the skin (with a rim of normal skin around it). Skin is closed with sutures (stitches), typically in a linear (line) fashion and samples are sent for histology to check the lesion and confirm the diagnosis. 

Sebaceous cysts, also called Epidermoid cysts are common slow growing lumps that develop from the skin. Cysts can sometimes occur after an injury in an area, (inclusion cysts) or develop without trigger.   

Many cysts do not cause symptoms, although when they become visually notable, discomforting, or recurrently infected, patients may opt for removal.  

Detail: Some cysts can be drained, although this does not remove the cyst from your skin but just empties the contents. We aim to remove the entirety of the cyst including the sac through surgery under local anaesthetic, by creating a small incision in the skin and removing the sac and contents from within. Skin is closed with sutures (stitches), typically in a linear (line) fashion and samples are sent for histology to check the lesion and confirm the diagnosis. 

A lipoma is a soft, benign (non-canceous) fatty lump that slowly grows underneath the skin. They can grow anywhere in your body under the skin, including deeper within the skin, soft tissue and muscles.  

Detail: Lipomas are removed under local anaesthetic through an excision process. The overlying and surrounding skin is numbed with local anaesthetic and the lipoma removed from within. Skin is closed with sutures (stitches), typically in a linear (line) fashion and samples are sent for histology to check the lesion and confirm the diagnosis.