Seborrhoeic keratosis, explained.
Seborrhoeic keratoses are common, benign growths that appear on skin with age — often described as looking stuck on rather than growing out. They are harmless. But telling one apart from something that is not harmless is a doctor's job, not a skin clinic's, and this page will not tell you what you have.
Is it cancer?
Seborrhoeic keratoses themselves are benign and do not turn into skin cancer. That is the reassuring part and it is true.
The part that matters more: some skin cancers can look like one. That is the entire reason this cannot be settled from a web page, or from a photograph, or by a skin clinic. Distinguishing a harmless growth from something that is not is a medical assessment — a GP, a skin cancer clinic, or a dermatologist, with proper lighting and a dermatoscope.
Go and get it looked at if it has changed shape, size or colour, if it bleeds or will not heal, if it itches persistently, if it looks different from the others you have, or if it simply worries you. None of those mean something is wrong. All of them mean it should be examined by someone qualified to say.
We are not that. Glow does not diagnose, and on this particular question we will always send you to a doctor first — before any conversation about appearance.
Can I remove it at home?
No — and this is the one place on this site where we will say don't rather than describe options.
More people search for how to remove these at home than search for anything else about them. The methods that circulate are apple cider vinegar, tea tree oil, hydrogen peroxide, freezing kits, wart removers, and cutting or picking them off.
Three reasons not to, in order of how much they matter:
- You do not know what it is. Removing or destroying a lesion at home also removes the thing a doctor needed to look at. If it was not what you assumed, you have deleted the evidence and delayed the answer — which is the real harm here, and it is not reversible.
- Acids and freezing kits do not distinguish between tissue. They damage what is under and around the lesion as readily as the lesion, which is how people end up with a permanent pale or dark mark that is more noticeable than what they started with.
- Broken skin on a face invites infection, and picking is how a flat, ignorable growth becomes a scar.
If it bothers you, it can be dealt with properly. See a doctor first — that order is not bureaucracy, it is the whole point.
What they generally are.
A seborrhoeic keratosis is a benign growth of the outer skin layer. They are extremely common with age — most people accumulate some — and they have nothing to do with hygiene, diet or anything anyone did.
They are generally described as looking stuck on: slightly raised, with a waxy or crumbly surface, ranging from pale tan to very dark brown, anywhere from a few millimetres to a couple of centimetres. Most often on the chest, back, shoulders, face and scalp. People usually have more than one, and often more each decade.
They are not contagious, not caused by sun in the way other growths are, and not a sign of anything being wrong.
All of which describes the category, not your skin. Plenty of things look like this. That is the point of the section at the top of this page.
What a skin clinic can do here.
Less than the search results suggest, and in a strict order.
A doctor identifies it. We do not. Where a lesion has been examined and confirmed benign by someone qualified to say so, a registered nurse can assess and manage its appearance in clinic — that is the skin lesion assessment and management appointment, $250.
If it has not been examined, that is the first appointment, and it is not with us. We will say so and you will not have wasted the visit — being told to see a doctor is a legitimate outcome of an assessment, not a failed one.
And plenty of people, once told a growth is harmless, decide to leave it alone. That is also a reasonable end to this.
Asked about seborrhoeic keratosis.
The questions people actually search, answered plainly.
What is a seborrheic keratosis?
A benign growth of the outer layer of skin, very common with age. They typically look "stuck on" rather than growing out — slightly raised, waxy or crumbly on the surface, pale tan through to dark brown, and often several at once. They are harmless, not contagious, and not caused by anything you did. Telling one apart from something that is not harmless is a doctor's job.
How do I remove a seborrheic keratosis at home?
Don't. Removing or destroying a lesion at home also removes the thing a doctor needed to examine — if it was not what you assumed, you have deleted the evidence and delayed the answer. Acids and freezing kits damage surrounding tissue as readily as the growth, which is how people end up with a permanent mark worse than what they started with. Broken skin on a face invites infection. See a doctor first.
Can a seborrheic keratosis become cancerous?
Seborrhoeic keratoses are benign and do not turn into skin cancer. The important part is the other direction: some skin cancers can look like one. That is why this cannot be settled from a web page or a photograph, and why anything that has changed shape, size or colour, bleeds, will not heal, itches persistently, or simply looks different from your others should be examined by a GP, skin cancer clinic or dermatologist.
Are seborrheic keratoses precancerous?
No. They are benign growths and are not considered precancerous. That does not remove the reason to have a new or changing lesion looked at — the risk is not that this becomes something else, it is that something else was mistaken for this.
Are skin tags the same as seborrheic keratosis?
No, they are different things. Skin tags are small soft growths that hang from the skin, usually where skin folds or rubs. Seborrhoeic keratoses sit flat against the skin and look stuck on. Both are benign, and neither should be self-diagnosed — which one you have, and whether it is either, is a question for a doctor.
Can a seborrheic keratosis fall off on its own?
They can catch on clothing or jewellery and come partly away, and they sometimes become irritated. That is not a treatment and it is not a reason to help one along. A lesion that has bled, caught or partly detached is a reason to have it looked at rather than a sign it was ready to go.
Where can I get a seborrheic keratosis looked at in Melbourne?
Start with a GP or a skin cancer clinic — identification is a medical assessment and it comes first. Once a lesion has been examined and confirmed benign, Glow's skin lesion assessment and management appointment is $250, in clinic in Springvale with a registered nurse. If it has not been examined, we will send you to a doctor before anything else.
A doctor first.
If you take one thing from this page: have it examined by someone qualified to identify it, before you do anything to it and before you book anything with us.
For lesions already examined and confirmed benign. Anything needing identification goes to a GP before anything else.
The other patterns we seeEight things people arrive with, described rather than diagnosed.
What we don't doThe treatments, claims and offers this clinic declines, and why.