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Kim Todd, age 10, of Fayetteville, Ga., for her question:

WHAT ARE MOLES AND WARTS?

For some reason, children are more likely to develop warts than adults. They are usually found on uncovered parts of the body, such as fingers. They also often appear in nostrils or ear passages.

Everyone has moles, sometimes as many as 40. Often they're almost invisible.

The only way moles and warts are alike is that both are marks on the body  with moles generally being small, dark brown spots that are either flat or just slightly raised above the skin, and warts being lumpy skin growths.

Warts are caused by a virus. They can be contagious when broken open, and can spread to various parts of the body. Half the time they disappear with no treatment. Doctors can remove them by either cutting them off, freezing them or destroying them with an electrical instrument, radiation or chemicals.

Moles, on the other hand, are birthmarks. They can be almost any size and shape. They may appear singly or in groups. Some do not appear until a child is about 6 or 7 although all are determined before birth.

As a person grows older, moles often change to a lighter color. Most will disappear by seeming to fade into the skin. Other moles, as a person grows older, will become raised so far from the skin that they develop a small stalk and eventually fall off or are rubbed off.

The vast majority of moles are benign and offer absolutely no threat to a person's health. Occasionally, however, what a person thinks is a mole is actually a lesion. If any spot on the body starts to bleed, or if it itches and becomes painful, a doctor should be seen to determine the exact status of the mark.

Some people decide to have moles removed, especially if they are located on a part of the body where their appearance is undesirable. Moles that repeatedly become infected or are subject to trauma can also be removed. Removal of a mole is often a very simple medical procedure and rarely is painful.

A mole can be removed by destroying it with an electric needle. This operation is called an electrodesiccation. Heat can also be used to destroy a mole and this procedure is called electrocautery.

If a hair is growing in a mole and it becomes a problem, it can be removed by electrolysis. This destroys the root of the hair. The mole usually then shrinks and becomes less noticeable.

 

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