Duct Tape to remove mole?

[VelcroQueen]

For the last few years, I have had a 3/8-inch mole on my right cheek that looked like a small, somewhat flattened, brownish raisin. I wasn't particularly worried about it: Mother had a similar but far larger, darker mole near her ear. Mine stuck out, rounded, but not nearly like hers. However, I woke one morning about a month ago to it bleeding. I think I scratched at it in the night. Then, I started think more about it, examining it closely. It was scaly, not smooth. When I drew my portrait for my profile picture on CD, I drew it so that the mole was hidden on the side of my face I did not show.

Eventually, I got the "bright" idea to put duct tape on it for 6 days, in the same way that some people treat warts. I covered it with a bandage. When I took them off, it stank! But the mole was nearly gone! It was the same color as my cheek, flat, and barely visible!

I am keeping watch over it and may treat it again, along with another less visible, smaller mole.

[VelcroQueen]

The mole is nearly gone, and it is almost the same color as my face. I forgot about it for quite awhile, so it has only been retreated in the last couple days.

[stepka]

Please go see a doctor about that. Any mole that gets scaly or irregular should be seen just to be on the safe side--even if you did "fix" it.

[CSD610]

What would ever possess you to think that putting duct tape on your face for six days would "heal" a mole that is scaly and possibly malignant? For crying out loud go see a Doctor and find out for sure if you have skin cancer and keep the duct tape off your body. It is meant for other NON MEDICAL uses.

[VelcroQueen]

[Sciameriken]

Woah... what?? This seems to have several web pages dedicated to it on google...!

Here is the wikipedia entry - I guess the big question is whether there is recurrence or not

Duct tape occlusion therapy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[VelcroQueen]

Originally Posted by Sciameriken

Woah... what?? This seems to have several web pages dedicated to it on google...!

Here is the wikipedia entry - I guess the big question is whether there is recurrence or not

Recurrence -- that's what I am watching for. So far, my cheek is smooth.

[Sciameriken]

Originally Posted by VelcroQueen

Recurrence -- that's what I am watching for. So far, my cheek is smooth.

Keep us posted - the wikipedia page said they saw recurrence after 6 months - my concern on this is that even though you have removed surface indications of the mole - the abnormal skin cells may still exist below the skin.

[VelcroQueen]

I am watching, and occasionally, I shove my tongue over there to make sure the inside surface seems healthy and smooth like the outside.

A humorous aside:
In the Bible, Mark 5:26 tells of a lady who

had undergone much at the hands of a number of medical men, and had given all she had, and was no better, but even worse,..." - Basic English Bible

I may not have her "issue of blood," but the statement above could be mine. I don't do doctors unless I am croaking. They have been the main bane to my last two decades.

[gentlearts]

I don't hold much credence in the duct tape thing, but I can pass along something I learned by accident.

I was waiting to have a thing lasered off my face. It must have been a wart, not a mole, which was next to my eyebrow. They said I might have lost some eyebrow hair from the laser.

Anyway, while waiting the month or so for the laser treatment, I came down with a bout of the shingles, and was prescribed acyclovir to knock out the virus. I took the medicine for two weeks, but after a few days, the wart on my face just vanished.

So, if you ever get a wart, ask your doctor if there is any harm in taking the acyclovir, because it makes them disappear quickly.