Treatments Your Provider May Prescribe
If the diagnosis of pyogenic granuloma is suspected, your doctor will probably want to perform a skin biopsy. The procedure involves:
- Numbing the skin with an injectable anesthetic.
- Sampling a small piece of skin by using a flexible razor blade, a scalpel, or a tiny cookie cutter (called a "punch biopsy"). If a punch biopsy is taken, a stitch (suture) or two may be placed and will need to be removed 6–14 days later.
- Having the skin sample examined under the microscope by a specially trained physician (dermatopathologist).
Pyogenic granulomas that develop in pregnant women often resolve after delivery. Similarly, pyogenic granulomas associated with medications usually improve when the medicine is discontinued or the dosage is lowered. Depending on the size of the pyogenic granuloma and its location and symptoms, the doctor may decide that no treatment is necessary for pregnant women or for people who can safely stop or lower the dose of the medication that caused the lesion.
Although pyogenic granuloma is a benign condition, it is frequently removed due to its tendency to bleed, its tenderness, and its distressing appearance. However, untreated pyogenic granulomas may go away on their own.
In obvious cases of pyogenic granuloma, your physician may choose to treat it immediately after obtaining the biopsy. Such treatments include:
- Scraping and burning (curettage and cauterization). After numbing with local anesthetic, the area is scraped with a sharp instrument (a curette) and burned with an electric needle (cautery).
- Silver nitrate solution
- Topical imiquimod cream (Aldara®)
- Laser treatment
- Freezing with liquid nitrogen (cryotherapy)
- Surgical removal (excision)
Approximately 40% of pyogenic granulomas come back (recur) after treatment, especially those lesions located on the trunk of teenagers and young adults. Recurrent pyogenic granulomas are best treated by surgical excision.
Self-Care Guidelines
