- Moles: Facial moles can be skin colored or darker. If your mole is raised, your dermatologist may perform a “shave” removal that will heal smoothly in about a week or two. If it’s flat, or appears suspicious, it may require a deeper removal, and biopsy, that requires stitches.
- Sebaceous hyperplasia: Yellow or pink bumps on the nose, forehead or chin are overgrown oil glands. These are common in people with rosacea. There’s often a pore in the center of the bumps. To treat sebaceous hyperplasia, your dermatologist can lightly zap the bumps with an electric needle; they'll fall off in about a week.
- Angiofibromas: Small, firm, skin colored and harmless skin growths that occur on and around the nose, usually near the nostrils. They may be treated with an electric needle or shaved off.
- Dermatosis papulosa nigra: Tan to brown-colored bumps that look as if they’re sitting on top of the skin. They’re most common on the cheeks and along the cheekbones, especially in people with darker skin tones. They start as tiny specks but can grow to be the size and shape of raisins. Small ones can be zapped with a laser; larger ones can be clipped off.
If you notice a bump that grows, gets darker, itches, bleeds, or otherwise changes, it should be brought to your doctor’s attention because such changes may indicate that a mole is turning cancerous. Err on the side of caution always.
