How to Remove a Birthmark
While it isn’t medically necessary to treat most birthmarks, if you have a prominent birthmark that makes you feel less confident, you may be wondering how to remove it.
Some birthmarks will fade on their own, and others will require treatment options like:
laser therapy
certain medication
surgery
Procedure for treatments
Laser therapy
Laser therapy can help lighten red birthmarks like port wine birthmarks.
The laser light converts to heat, which shrinks or eliminates blood vessels, making birthmarks less noticeable.
Laser therapy is most effective when used from infancy, but it can also be used on children and adults.
A small 1995 study and a 1991 research reviewTrusted Source showed that in some cases, lasers can fully get rid of birthmarks, especially café au lait marks or congenital vascular birthmarks.
Surgery or shaving
Birthmark surgery is typically done in an office setting with local anesthesia. If the birthmark area is very large, it may be done under general anesthesia in a surgery setting.
A small scalpel is used to remove the birthmark.
Medication
In some cases, doctors may prescribe beta-blockers, which are typically used for high blood pressure.
They shrink blood vessels and reduce blood flow to an area, making certain birthmarks, such as hemangiomas of infancy, less noticeable.
Corticosteroids also shrink blood vessels and can minimize hemangiomas of infancy.
These treatments are only effective during the birthmark’s proliferative phase, when it grows, which ends when someone is about 1 year old.
After that, they typically begin to disappear on their own. Any remnants can be removed surgically or with laser therapy.
