Pointers With Portela: Risks of Having Moles Lasered Off

In his most recent podcast episode, "You Could Be Risking Your Life if You Do This to Your Moles," Dustin Portela, DO, a board-certified dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon at Treasure Valley Dermatology in Boise, Idaho, discusses why it's potentially dangerous to seek cosmetic treatments for moles before having them biopsied by a dermatology clinician.

Some of the content covered by Portela includes:

• Identifying "good" and "bad" moles
• Lasers may remove the pigment of a mole but not the melanocytes
• Melanocytes without the ability to produce pigment can change and become a melanoma without being detected

Opinions expressed are that of Portela and do not express the views or opinions of Dermatology Times®.