Readers Respond to "I Use Fingernail Surgery to Remove My Seborrheic Keratoses"

To the Editor:

I find your piece embarrassing and unworthy of your Internet service.^[1]

If you had bothered to do some research, even just reading eMedicine, you would find that curettage, not excision, is the recommended treatment -- a far more sterile version of a fingernail surgery. The curettage procedure is usually nonscarring though rarely some mild hypopigmentation may result.

• The use of fingernail surgery is to be condemned as it is a bacterially contaminated area.
  
  

• Picking at one's own skin with the fingernails is a bad habit and in its extreme form can become obsessive and result in scarring -- a disorder known as neurotic excoriation.
  
  

• Many elderly gentlemen will pick at solar keratoses on their scalp, leaving it in a persistent state of bleeding and infection; I sincerely hope that you are not headed in this direction.
  
  

• If your medical colleagues excise your seb warts or cause significant scars, or if you suspect that they choose their therapies on the basis of cost benefit to themselves, I suggest you take the matter up with your State Medical Board rather than indulging in self-injury.
  
  

• If there is any doubt about the diagnosis, the curetted specimen can be sent for pathology.
  

Cheers,
Philip Bekhor
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Reference

1. Lundberg GD. I use fingernail surgery to remove my seborrheic keratoses. Medscape General Medicine. 2006;8(4):66. Available at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/548889 Accessed December 29, 2006.

To the Editor:

Hell, George, I've been scraping off my SKs with my fingernails for 30 years.

A retired pathologist in Texas

To the Editor:

Thank you for your article on seb keratoses.^[1] I have been picking them off of my patients for years, by way of showing them that this is a benign and harmless lesion. True, you don't get paid for it, but in family medicine (43 years of practice) there are a lot of things you don't get paid for and do as "throw-ins". The same is true of multiple skin tags around the neck...if they are small enough and on a tiny stalk, I just pluck them off and hand them to the patient! "No Charge."

But for you to have the "balls" to come out and admit this [publicly] (as well as telling those who remove them for money to not bother reading your comments) that's GREAT! I wish we could kill more of the "sacred cows" of medicine.

THANKS!
Ed White, MD
Berea, Ohio

Reference

1. Lundberg GD. I use fingernail surgery to remove my seborrheic keratoses. Medscape General Medicine. 2006;8(4):66. Available at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/548889 Accessed December 29, 2006.

To the Editor:

I'm glad to hear that someone else is doing this and having the same success as me!^[1] I first tried this technique in elementary school. Of course I had no idea what that big brown lesion was. When it came off I thought for sure something bad would happen. But nothing ever did. Now, about 40-plus years later, I continue to remove these the same way. The bigger ones usually take several weeks to completely remove, which is one drawback. As you noted though, this "surgery" is free. Thanks for validating this method.

Mary McNicholas
Modesto, California

Reference

1. Lundberg GD. I use fingernail surgery to remove my seborrheic keratoses. Medscape General Medicine. 2006;8(4):66. Available at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/548889 Accessed December 29, 2006.

To the Editor:

Thanks for the tip about removing seborrheic keratoses.^[1] I successfully performed the procedure immediately after viewing your editorial on Medscape.

Cheers,
Jonathan Dreyer
San Francisco, California

Reference

1. Lundberg GD. I use fingernail surgery to remove my seborrheic keratoses. Medscape General Medicine. 2006;8(4):66. Available at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/548889 Accessed December 29, 2006.

To the Editor:

Bravo and well spoken.^[1] I have twice applied the fingernail technique to remove seborrheic keratoses and was amazed at how easily they yielded to gentle scraping, with no discomfort and no bleeding. Gentle persuasion applied daily for several days makes the process go smoothly.

Cheers,
Len Blumin, MD
Lblumin@aol.com
Mill Valley, California

Reference

1. Lundberg GD. I use fingernail surgery to remove my seborrheic keratoses. Medscape General Medicine. 2006;8(4):66. Available at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/548889 Accessed December 29, 2006.

To the Editor:

I had one on my face which a plastic surgeon had offered to remove until I found that scraping it with my fingernails got rid of it. It kept coming back and I kept scraping it off until it eventually gave up -- no scar as you say. I have tried with others but they are probably the wrong type as they either hurt or won't come off.

I think it may be that lack of pain when you try to do this is a sign that you are dealing with a seborrheic keratosis.

Kind Regards,
Charles Briscoe
Retired Anaesthetist
c.briscoe@paston.co.uk
Norwich, United Kingdom

Editor's Note:

These letters were shown to the author who has chosen not to reply.

Readers are encouraged to Paul Blumenthal, MD, Deputy Editor of MedGenMed, for the editor's eyes only or for possible publication via email: pblumen@stanford.edu

© 2007 Medscape

Cite this: Readers Respond to "I Use Fingernail Surgery to Remove My Seborrheic Keratoses" - Medscape - Apr 05, 2007.