I had one on my shoulder. I've had melanoma three times so my dermatologist removed it and had it tested just to be sure it wasn't melanoma again. My insurance covered the removal. I have to see my dermatologist every three months because my occurrences were fairly recent. Anything weird or odd gets removed. We don't play the "'let's wait and see" game.

I find it frustrating. I have the most irritating ones removed. I even got one inside my mouth which I guess wasn't exactly seborrheic, but was a keratosis. The dentist clipped it for me.

I had something of similar appearance on the back of my hand a few months ago. It looked like a cluster of pebbles.. My dermatologist called it an ”experience award”, ie - more commonly seen with older patients.

He said it could be left alone or treated, my choice. I chose to have him give it liquid nitrogen squirts. It took 2 weeks to heal.

An aside... more moles may mean longer life! https://www.bbc.com/news/health-11813378

Yes. I hve those. Just undercover. I have them removed if they get itchy. And yes if you exfoliate they flatten but the dark spot remains.

Annie I've alway had a of lot moles My grandmother told me I would be very wealthy. Still waiting. Maybe I got the long life prize instead. LOL

There are videos of Dr. Pimplepopper dealing with SKs.

Yes! My officemate gets her skin stuff frozen off at her skin checkup every year. She'd pay extra to do it.

Wow, i thank you for describingnwhat you did, petalique. I may try this.

I have one that was once a small brown spot, like a freckle, in the middle front of my thigh. my dermatologist looks at it every year since the SK suddenly appeared and the grew. It’s now about a half inch. i keep the roughness down my using a skin scrub of some sort on occasion and then applying a very rich hand/body cream on it, which i do almost daily.

My DGD inherited my freckle, opposite leg. She was self conscious about it when it started to get larger so a plastic surgeon removed it. I am glad now that she had it removed since it may have turned into SK eventually.

I have a few, mainly on my abdomen, so hidden under clothing. I've had 1 or 2 removed due to their location where clothes rub (e.g. on hip bone.) Honestly, I just try to ignore them.

Well if we're talking off label use, corn removers also work well. They have an incredibly high level of salicylic acid in them, and work well at removing SK. You would need to be exceedingly careful, especially if they're on your face. I wouldn't use it on my face. Typical facial salicylic acid is something like 2%. Corn removers have 40%, if that tells you why not. I used it on my hand with pleasant results.

https://practicaldermatology.com/topics/aesthetics-cosmeceuticals/new-options-for-the-treatment-of-extensive-seborrheic-keratosis/23129/

Read about the Voltaren/diclofenac. I am not advocating its use for anything. I just made a personal decision.

Check with your doctor (if s/he’s any good) and see wha s/he sats that spot or growth is. Maybe they will find a way to remove it. That would be best, don’t you think?

I guess if we live long enough we’ll get lots of warts, growths and maladies.

Hey, look what I just found.

https://www.dermatologyadvisor.com/news/diclofenac-sodium-1-gel-reduces-size-of-seborrheic-keratosis-lesions-better-than-topical-ibuprofen/

🔺Diclofenac Sodium 1% Gel Reduces Size of Seborrheic Keratosis Lesions Better Than Topical Ibuprofen

I'm confused why you suggest others get their doctor to diagnose it, when you qualify yourself as "if you connect with a dermatologist in the future"? SK goes away with salicylic acid (and is used safely in dermatology).

Basal cell will not go away with SA. I had a growth that exploded overnight a couple of years ago. I was trying to keep it in check until I could get into the dermatologist. Nothing slowed it down! Nothing. Glad they removed it surgically even if it is the ugliest scar ever. I did know that the way it grew it wasn't going to be a SK, with as fast moving as it was. So glad it wasn't melanoma or merkel cell. Whew. I thought it was going to take over my entire arm!

Hi rob333. My phrasing was intended to reflect that some people might have easier access to a dermatologist and might want to get a formal disagnosis right away.

My impression is that a lot of PCPs don’t consider AK any big deal.

About 5 years ago I had a peculiar spot, lesion like thing at the small of my back. I could not see it well, but could feel it with my fingers. It was smaller that a typical pencil eraser and did not hurt. From my lousy view (via bathroom mirror, and not close up), it seemed to not be going away or healing. It seemed a bit flaky. (I tend to not use body lotion.) It might have been increasing in size a bit over a number of years and did notappear or behave as anything I'd seen before. My PCP glanced at it and was dismissive (burn out setting in?). It looked a bit pink as well as skin colored.

After about another 8 months, I decided to have DH snap a phot of it w his phone camera. (Thank goodness for these cameras which continue to improve.) Theimage of this small lesion showed a small lesion/irregularity with flaky skin. Beyond the flaky skin I could see a few small thin very fine blood vessels. Hmm. I cropped the photo, adjusted the image a tad then decided to use that GOOGLE image whatever it’s called. Maybe I didn’t have to uplod it, just viewed it on the PHOTOS section of my ipad or iphone, then clicked on that icon that allowed me to question what it was. Small lesion, so so photo.

The Identification offerings came back and one of them was ”Basil Cell Carcinoma — BCC.” Not the worst sort of lesion. I Set about searching for info about BCC.

I was surprised at the good ID match. I called a Boston teaching hospital that I like to seek an appointment with a dermatologist. Despite doctors mostly neglecting to advise patients for Physical Exams to get a ”yearly” skin check, that dermatology clinic was solidly booked for months.

• I told the clerk that I was pretty sure I had (or perhaps I actually said I had) a BCC. She noted that an a dermaloolgy resident (PhD and specializing in two areas) had a schedule free up, opening, saw that patient said she had a BCC, and fitted me in.Fine young doctor. He said he thought the diagnosis would likely be just that and explained that BCCs do not metasticise, but can grow deeper into tissue than their surface appearance would suggest. I wanted him to just cut the entire thing out right there, but I believe he just took a biopsy. (There are acceptable best practices…).

It turned out to be a type of BCC and he removed it. T should have asked for some narcotic pain med because after the lidocaine was gone, the thing hurt like a son of a gun for a .day or so. That dermatology resident or post doc was so kind, he even mailed me the results.

I have had good luck asking a search engine to ID things for me.

And, BTW, those very fine spider vein like blood vessels are, it appears, typical os BCCs.

The doctor said that mine was an unusual sort of BCC that seems to be seen mostly or only in women. That caused me to wonder, since it was at the approximate level of underwear elastic, if it might be caused by chemicals in the elastic of ladies’ underwear. Hmmm.

PS Lady’s, ladies or ladies’ ? https://grammarhow.com/ladys-or-ladies/

I think it's foolish to self-diagnose any type of apparent skin abnormality. There can be subtle differences between something that's benign and something that's serious. If finding such distinctions were trivial or obvious, far fewer dermatologists would be would spend the extra time training in the Mohs procedure and there would be far fewer dermatopathologists. In a dystopian world, skin disorders maybe would be most commonly handled by primary care docs, they're sometimes on the front line of a patient's encounter with the medical community.

In the real world, better primary care docs won't trespass into the specialty. "Go see a dermatologist as soon as you can" is the best skin care a primary care doc can offer.

Thanks, Elmer, I agree. I wasn’t (solely) diagnosing myself per se. My PCP didn’t think it was much of anything and probably suggested I go to a dermatologist. I did call for an appointment, long wait. In the mean time, I had DH snap some photos. Then, with time on my hands) I called (IIRC — a while ago and I am always battling pain and fatigue nd attendant chaos) and then the doc saw the note about BCC and fitted me in earlier.

I would have seen one of the dermatologists, but because I am curious, I did that image ID search and because I was confident it was a BCC mentioned that and a dermatologist fit me in when he had an opening.

Lots of people have apparent actinic keratosis and most PCPs just shrug unless it looks unusual or has changed. I’ll make an appointment to get those weird skin things that seem to be AK. I think I’d asked a PCP about them a decade ago and believe that’s what they said.

As for the Seborrheic Keratosis, I’d had that for a longwhile and it was unchanging. I bet not one of my PCPs even looked at, noticed or saw it. Medicine is all rush rush rush and for decades now, even if one isn’t a prisoner of an HMO, most patients get about 10 to 15 mins per appointment. I’d have to make separate appointments for each and every ”complaint” — knees, skin, multiple bilateral foot woes, flank pain (tests, scans, no answers on that).

I hear you and you make absolute sense. In reality, however, I encounter a lot of busy, probably overworked doctors.

I have had excruciating back pain ho hummed by an HMO I was stuck with.

Sometimes, there apparently isn’t a lot they can do for some things or certain things are not considered problematic (for THEM).

To continue with my response (above).

Sometimes patients are left to their own devices and diagnosing and guesses.

Example: I usually have gone to teaching hospital affiliated doctors, or certainly ones who have had good training. When I had an HMO back in the 1980s and 1990s, I was stuck with an HMO. I thought they were going to kill me. They ignored my back injury. (they were HMO w*ores). Excruciating pain from an accident then a banana peel like fall right into the lower vertebrae at high speed onto a hard surface. They ordered a LS spine, the lateral view of which was like a junky KUB (abdomen film). Despite being in extreme pain and disabled, they (Dr. Galev) would not agree to order an MRI. I called the doctor who owned the clinic, he was very slick and would not agree to let me have an MRI. He is DEAD now (smiley face) and so is his stinky HMO.

During those years I also developed severe ongoing intestinal pain and diarrhea. The same HMO ho hummed me. They finally gave me an appt with a senior gastroenterologist who performed only a sigmoidoscopy (cheap HMO]. Exam negative! He was a kind doctor and he asked me what I liked to do to relax. I replied cross words and perennial gardening when I could but because of the back injury really could no longer. He said that perhaps the perennial gardening was not agreeing with me. (The doctor was at a Boston area teaching hospital.)

I returned home, still had that peep squeak HMO and was left to cope with severe dry eyes, incapacitating back pain from two injuries (excruciating to sit or stand or be vertical). I also had to contemd with the gasrointestinal pain, cramping and gas. My eyes were so Freaking dry, even with preservative-free eyedrops and ointments and fogged up swimming goggles.

I got to ”Self Diagnosing.” I looked through manuals, medical books, Tabors….No graphical user interface PC back then.

One day something came into my consciousness. I had this vague recollection of my father drinking lastose free milk. I’d never had a problem with milk or dairy. But at 8 pm one night after the quasi eureka, I went to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of milk and drank it; followed by another one. Within about 30 or 40 minutes the Borborygmi (stomach gurgling) began, soon followed by explosive diarrhea. Bingo!

Self diagnosis — “lactose intolerance” which in my case was more correctly, lactase insufficiency. With some people, as they grow older, their small intestine produces less lactase, the enzyme that digests the sugar, lactose, found in milk.

I did not write an ”I told you so” to the greedy HMO. And my practitioner there never inqired about my gut on subsequent visits.

Next self diagnosis: very painful bone spur on my elbow.

Now that makes sense petal!