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Minor Surgery

Minor Surgery in Essex

Our Quality Care Commission registered practice has a team of doctors highly experienced in an extensive range of minor surgical procedures, which take place at our purpose-built, fully equipped, minor surgery suite.

Prior to any agreed procedure, you will have a thorough consultation, explaining the likely diagnosis of your lesion, a full explanation of the procedure (with benefits and risks discussed), and aftercare advice.

At Essex Private Doctors we greatly value safety, and in all but the most obvious of benign conditions, we send off excised samples for tissue analysis (histology).

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We offer minor surgery for a variety of problems, including:

Moles

A mole is a growth of pigment-forming cells which can form lumps or marks on the skin. Sometimes they are dark, and sometimes they are pale coloured. They are very common and most are harmless. Very rarely, they can be cancerous.

Some people choose to have a mole removed because it is irritating, but often because they are unsightly.

Your Doctor will discuss the type of mole that you have and the best way to remove it.
The area will be cleaned and the skin numbed with a local anaesthetic. Some moles can be removed by shaving, and some require a small excision. We routinely send away the excised mole samples for tissue testing (histology), to give an accurate diagnosis of the lesion, unless it is a very obviously benign mole.

If a mole is suspicious in nature, you may be referred to a dermatologist for a specialist opinion.

Skin Tags

Skin tags are small growths that hang from the skin. They are harmless but can be a nuisance if they are growing on the face, or an area where they catch on clothing.

Skin tags can be carefully removed with excision or hyfrecation.

Lipomas

Lipomas are non-cancerous fatty lumps that can develop anywhere on the body. They are common and sometimes run in families. A lipoma feels like a smooth, soft lump under the skin, and is usually round in shape.

If you have a lipoma growing in an awkward place, or if it looks prominent, it can be removed by excision, under local anaesthetic, and the skin is closed with dissolvable sutures. You’ll be asked to return for a check-up, one week later, to ensure that things are healing well.

Seborrhoeic Warts

These warts are waxy lumps that typically grow on the face, back, and shoulders.

The are nearly always benign in nature, and can be light brown, dark or pale in colour. They can be removed by excision, or curettage (gentle scraping after a local anaesthetic injection).

Ingrowing Toe Nails

An ingrowing toenail occurs when the edge or corner of a toenail grows into the skin surrounding the nail, rather than growing over the skin.

They are most common in the big toe and may be caused by incorrect cutting of the toe nails. They can be really painful and can become infected. If you’re getting problems with a recurrent, ingrowing nail, part or all of the nail can be surgically removed.

The toe is numbed with a local anaesthetic injection, the nail area is gently cut away, and the base of the nail is treated to prevent further growth. After the surgery, you will be able to fully weight bear, but it will take several weeks for full healing to complete.

Verrucas

Also known as plantar warts, verrucas are small benign lesions caused by the human papillomavirus.

If your verruca isn’t responding to over-the-counter treatments, it can be removed with a small surgical procedure (under local anaesthetic) to excise it.