What is it?

• A benign skin lesion is any non-cancerous skin growth.

• There are hundreds of potential benign appearing lesions that may grow on our skin - often it takes a trained Dermatologist to be able to identify if these lesions are harmless or potential harmful. 

• Common lesions include:

  • Seborrheic keratoses (age spots)​

  • Solar lentigo (sun spots)

  • Skin tags

  • Moles

  • Angiomas (red spots)

  • Syringomas (skin coloured lesions around the eyes)

  • Sebaceous hyperplasia (enlarged oil glands)

  • Xanthelasma (cholesterol deposits around the eyes)

  • Cysts

  • Dermatofibromas (scar like lesions on legs)

  • Scars (Keloids and hypertrophic scars)

  • Milia

  • Venous lakes (purple lesions on lips)

  • and the list goes on!

 

What are the symptoms?

• Often benign lesions are asymptomatic but may get itchy from time to time.   Moreso, they are often more a cosmetic nuisance.

 

Do I need to do any tests as part of the diagnosis?

• In most cases the answer is NO as they tend to be a clinical diagnosis

• Occasionally your doctor will look more closely with a light that can magnify the skin. 

• If there are suspicious features sometimes a skin biopsy is done to rule out skin cancer.

 

What are the treatment options available?

• Skin lesions should NEVER be treated with laser or cosmetic treatments unless the person doing so is well trained to identify the differences between benign and malignant lesions such as a Dermatologist.  Many lesions may mimic various types of skin cancer!

• Typically skin lesions can be left alone if not bothersome - or they may be treated, however this is rarely covered by our public health care system as everyone has some of these benign skin lesions!   Hence, there is often a fee for cosmetic purposes for removal.