Age warts (seborrhoeic keratoses)
Age warts are benign, brownish, often greasy-looking nodules that increase in number with age. Once it is clear that they really are age warts, we ablate them with the Erbium:YAG laser.
Overview
Age warts (seborrhoeic keratoses) are brownish nodules that often feel greasy. They appear more and more with increasing age, mainly on the face and the trunk, but also on other areas of skin. Once they have appeared, they often increase in number afterwards. Despite the name, they are benign skin changes.
As they grow larger, itching, inflammation and occasionally bleeding become more frequent. It can therefore make sense to have age warts removed early. For this we use the Erbium:YAG laser, which ablates the lesion layer by layer; individual age warts can often be removed in a single session. The Erbium:YAG laser page describes the procedure, aftercare and risks in detail.
Before any laser treatment comes the medical assessment of whether the skin change really is benign. Because the laser removes the tissue, it cannot be examined histologically afterwards; unclear findings are therefore not lasered but first clarified with a tissue sample. How we assess skin changes is explained on the skin cancer screening page.
Areas of application
- Age warts on the face and the trunk
- Age warts on other parts of the body
- Age warts that itch, become inflamed or bleed
- Single as well as multiple age warts, in each case after prior dermatological assessment