Lumps, bumps, and blood vessels

Did a lump appear sometime in the night?

We skim the array of lumps, bumps and blood vessels to give you a brief overview of what your mysterious lump may be, and how we can make it disappear! From skin tags and whiteheads, to moles, sebaceous cysts and hidradenitis, lumps can be dealt with quickly. Blood vessel issues like cherry angiomas, telangiectasia, or bigger vessels can be zapped with laser or sclerotherapy. Lumps on the hands and even a bony forehead lump can all be smoothed away...

Insurance may cover your consultation and some treatments of lumps, so if it is a covered benefit, call to make an appointment at Pulsar Health in West Palm Beach, FL, to have the lump removed as painlessly and prettily as possible.

Having small lumps and bumps appear is part of our life's journey! Here are Pulsar Health, we can help with most of them. This is not an exhaustive list (you would fall off your chair asleep if we talked about everything...) but here are a few of the more common concerns:

Lumps can be of the skin itself or under the skin. Lumps and bumps of the skin should get checked out by a dermatologist to make sure it isn't skin cancer, and regular mapping of your skin is important for lighter skin tones. Even if you have darker skin, it is important to keep an eye out for new lesions that involve the skin. At Pulsar Health, we can aesthetically remove lesions using surgery or lasers.

Snipping a skin tag is easy with some numbing medicine on board, but they can be more tricky when they have a broad base or are near a delicate structure such as the eyelid, so we can talk about how to handle yours when you come in. We may need to bring in the laser for these.

Milia or whiteheads can be released during a facial using a small lancet to create an opening to extrude the whitehead. We use a combination of steam, enzymes, and peels to soften blackheads to aid in removal of them as easily and effectively as possible. It may take a few facials to tame the forest of blackheads / whiteheads, and then regular facials to keep the pores cleaned and minimized. Also make sure you are using non-comedogenic products. We have excellent lines of skincare at Pulsar Health.

Moles can be treated by surgical excision or using the carbon dioxide laser. If you have darker skin, you may need to use a cream to avoid "post inflammatory hyperpigmentation" whenever you have a laser or treatment involving heat, and even with surgery your skin may darken either temporarily, or for a protracted period of time. As we mentioned before, make sure your dermatologist has cleared the mole as not concerning for cancer before we remove it.

Cherry angiomas are small lesions of blood vessels that can be "zapped" with a Nd-Yag laser to shrink them down. It may take more than one treatment, as we use a lower setting initially until we know your skin can tolerate a higher setting safely. 

Telangiectasia are "broken blood vessels" that are suitable for laser if they are small, but they can come back. The chances of recurrence are reduced if you can apply compression to the area for a week or two straight after treatment. Sclerotherapy (where we inject a soap that helps reduce blood flow in the vessel) can be used on bigger blood vessels up to 2mm in diameter. Again, post-treatment compression is important, and the procedure may need to be repeated. Currently we don't treat varicose veins or larger blood vessels at Pulsar Health.

Lumps under the skin can be attached to the skin, such as sebaceous cysts or epidermoid cysts, or they can be totally under the skin such as fatty lumps called lipomas. These are all generally straightforward to remove, but we avoid doing so if they are infected until the infection has settled down.

Hidradenitis is a condition usually found in the armpits or groin area where recurrent cysts can form over a wider area. It can be associated with diet, so could benefit from reductions in dairy or sugar intake. If severe, we can excise the lesions. Depending on the number and depth involved, some kind of reconstruction may be necessary. Insurance often covers treatment of hidradenitis, but check first with your insurance provider to make sure it is a covered benefit.

Sometimes you can get lumps in the "mucosal" areas such as your mouth or groin area. These can also be removed and sent for pathology to determine what they are if we are not sure about the diagnosis. For example, pyogenic granulomas can be lumps that form on mucosa and bleed. Whilst some may resolve, surgical excision deals with them definitively. 

Bony lumps called osteomas can form, especially on the forehead, which can be aesthetically problematic. These can be either pared down or excised in an asleep procedure. We make sure to minimize scars to avoid disruption to your appearance. 

Lumps on the hands are often ganglion cysts or bony lumps associated with arthritis. You can also get fibrous thickening that can affect your finger motions such as trigger finger or Dupytren's contracture. Some of these are amenable to simple treatments such as injections of platelet rich plasma or steroids, whilst others require more complex surgery or are best left alone, so if you have questions, feel free to come in for a consultation.