Find out how long it may take for a mole shave biopsy on your lower leg to heal.
I had a shave biopsy on my lower leg for a mole that I was concerned about (it turned out to be harmless; benign).
Sixty days later the scab was still on it and still did not look like it was ready to naturally fall off (never pick off a scab!).
It looked as though if I picked the scab off, it would bleed beneath, because it appeared that the scab was filling in a depression.
The next time I looked at the site (73 days out from procedure), which was on the front part of my upper shin, the scab was gone, and what remained was a dry, pink, very slightly depressed area.
For at least two weeks after the shave biopsy for the mole, the site still did not appear that it was healing much. It had a fresh look about it, almost raw, moist.
I also kept a Band-Aid on it all day and overnight, changing it every three to four days because every time I changed it, it seemed as though the bandage part of the Band-Aid would lift off minute particles from the site.
Finally, after three weeks, it looked like a scab was definitely beginning to form.
However, for the longest time, the site’s appearance seemed to be the same. I’d view it every three or four days when I removed the Band-Aid.
The shave biopsy for the mole either didn’t seem to be healing, or, it was healing so slowly that it was imperceptible to me.
But gradually over time, the forming-scab took on an increasingly dry, sturdy, browner appearance, and also very gradually seemed to be getting smaller.
Then it began getting a slightly crusty look—meaning that healing of the shave biopsy was continuing to progress.
“Lesions below the knee take longer to heal in everyone, particularly as we age,” says Adarsh Vijay Mudgil, MD, double board certified in dermatology and dermatopathology, and founder of Mudgil Dermatology in NY.
“The predominant reason is that circulation at the most distal parts of our body (namely below the knee) is not as robust as parts of the body more proximal to the heart; this fact intensifies as we age.”
Via e-mail, I asked my dermatologist, who performed the shave biopsy, if the fact that the Band-Aid had been covering the site for about four weeks before I decided to stop using Band-Aids, had slowed the healing time.
She said it did not slow the healing time, and in fact, it would have helped keep the site moist, which is important for optimal healing.
If you’re wondering when on earth the shaved area of your mole is going to heal…well…it may take nine and a half weeks for the scab to be ready to fall off.
Dr. Mudgil 
