Mr. Onur Gilleard
Qualifications & Experience
Mr Onur Gilleard is a distinguished consultant plastic surgeon on the GMC specialist register. He previously held an NHS consultant post at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, specialising in skin cancer and microsurgical reconstruction. In 2021, Mr Gilleard transitioned from the NHS to dedicate himself fully to private practice, allowing him to focus exclusively on providing personalised, high-quality care to his patients. He is recognised as an expert in laser treatments, having conducted research and developed advanced treatment protocols using cutting-edge laser technology to optimise both clinical outcomes and cosmetic results.
Get started today
Book a Consultation
What this guide covers
- The assumption that costs people the most
- Why the method is not the whole answer
- What each method actually leaves behind
- Why the site matters more than the technique
- What a facial scar looks like, month by month
- The part you control
- Deeper skin tones
- When a scar needs treating
- The sites where you will be warned first
- What it comes down to
- Your questions, answered
The assumption that costs people the most
Patients arrive having already decided which method they want, usually because they have read that one of them is scarless. Mr Onur Gilleard, who carries out most of the clinic’s 2,000 mole and lesion removals a year, puts the problem plainly:
“The most common misconception is that a mole removed by laser leaves no visible scar.”
Mr Onur Gilleard, Consultant Plastic Surgeon
“It is impossible to remove a mole without leaving some form of scar.”
Mr Onur Gilleard
Not usually, not in most cases — always. The honest question is therefore not how to avoid a mark but what kind of mark each approach leaves, on which part of the body, and how much of the final result is still in your hands after you walk out. That is what this page covers. If you are still deciding whether to have the mole removed at all, or want the cost and the safety side, start with our complete guide to mole removal — this page picks up where that one leaves off.
Why the method is not the whole answer
The question turns up constantly online, usually phrased as though one technique wins. It does not work that way.
“The best cosmetic result doesn’t just come from choosing whether it’s laser, shaving, or excising. It comes from matching the technique to the mole. It depends on the size of the mole, whether it’s raised or flat, and the area of the body that it’s on… A method that heals beautifully for one mole can leave a worse result on another.”
Mr Onur Gilleard
Three things decide the outcome before anyone picks up an instrument: how big the mole is, whether it sits raised above the skin or flat within it, and where on the body it is. Get those wrong and the most elegant technique in the world still leaves a poor result.
There is also a constraint that has nothing to do with appearance. Shaving and lasering destroy tissue, so the mole cannot be examined afterwards. Around a quarter of the moles removed here go to histology, and roughly twice a year a lesion removed for purely cosmetic reasons comes back with an unexpected finding. Where there is any diagnostic question, the method is decided for you — appearance comes second.
What each method actually leaves behind
Across a year’s work the split is roughly 60% surgical excision, 30% CO2 laser and 10% shave. Each leaves a different kind of mark:
| Method | The mark it leaves | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Surgical excision | A fine line, longer than the mole itself, because the wound has to be closed without bunching the skin. | The longest mark, but the flattest and the most predictable — and the whole lesion goes to the laboratory. |
| Shave | A small flat patch, with no line at all. It stays paler than the surrounding skin, and it is still there at a year. | Shorter mark, but about one in ten regrow, and the tissue is partly destroyed. |
| CO2 laser | Little or no line; the risk is a change in colour rather than a scar you can feel. | Around 15% regrow and about one in ten need a second session. No tissue survives for analysis. |
The same three methods, photographed at the clinic:
Read the middle column again. People compare methods on scar length when the real difference is often colour, texture and whether the mole comes back at all.
Why the site matters more than the technique
The same operation on two different parts of the face gives two different results, and the reason is mechanical. Skin that folds naturally and stays still heals into a fine line. Skin that is pulled in several directions all day does not.
The forehead, the outer corners of the eyes, the nasolabial fold and the crease below the lower lip all have natural lines an incision can be hidden in, and the skin there is slack enough to close without tension. Those are the sites where excision does its best work.
The cheek is the opposite, and Mr Gilleard is direct about why:
“The skin here is thick. The natural skin tension lines are not obvious and the tissue gets put under tension during speaking, laughing and chewing which contributes to a thick stretched scar developing.”
Mr Onur Gilleard
So on the cheek the plan changes. Where the lesion can be treated with laser, that is the better choice cosmetically — nothing is stitched, so nothing is held under tension while the mouth moves through a normal day. That is the opposite of the advice for the forehead, and it is the clearest illustration of why a single “best method” does not exist.
One thing overrides it. If the mole needs to go to the laboratory, it has to be cut out, because laser destroys the tissue that would be examined. In that situation the cheek is excised anyway and the resulting scar is treated afterwards — vascular laser at around two weeks, then fractionated CO2 at about six weeks to remodel the collagen. Diagnosis comes first; the scar is then managed on its own terms.
What a facial scar looks like, month by month
Most disappointment comes from looking too early. A scar seen at six weeks is not the scar you will keep. This is the actual course on the face:
| Time | What you will see |
|---|---|
| 2 weeks | Some crust still present; the skin around the wound is very red. |
| 1 month | A red or pink scar that feels firm. The surrounding skin is still discoloured. |
| 3 months | The scar is pink but the skin around it has returned to normal. Often still slightly firm. |
| 6 months | Pale pink, and softening. |
| 12 months | Pale and soft. |
If you have an event in the diary, this table is the one to plan against. At three weeks a scar is still pink, raised and noticeable, and that is normal healing rather than a complication.
The part you control
Technique and site are decided in the consulting room. One factor is not:
“The biggest factor the patient can control for a good scar is keeping the wound as still as possible for the first two weeks after surgery.”
Mr Onur Gilleard
Stillness means no stretching the area, no lifting, no gym. A wound under repeated tension while it is knitting produces a wider scar, and no amount of aftercare cream compensates for it. Sun protection matters afterwards, but the first fortnight is where the result is won or lost. Our day-by-day aftercare guide sets out the practicalities.
Deeper skin tones
On Fitzpatrick IV to VI skin the risk shifts from the shape of the scar to its colour. Around 5% of patients develop post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation — a darkened patch where the mole was — and it usually settles within six months.
Because inflammation drives that pigment change, the choice of method changes too. Stitching a wound provokes less inflammation than lasering or shaving it, so excision is often the better option on deeper skin even though it leaves a longer line. Where there is a history of keloid scarring and the removal is wanted for appearance alone, the honest advice is sometimes that the scar may be worse than the mole. Our page on mole removal on darker skin goes further into this.
When a scar needs treating
About one scar in ten is revised. That figure is worth stating plainly: it is not rare, and it is not a failure — some sites simply need a second stage.
Those revisions are not spread evenly. Most of them follow excisions on the trunk, where the skin is thicker, more movement, and a wound under tension for longer than the face ever is.
The tools are steroid injection, fractionated CO2 laser, vascular laser to settle redness, or a combination. Timing matters: six weeks is early, and a scar that looks poor then often improves on its own. Where it is not improving, vascular treatment can begin while the scar is still red, with collagen remodelling later.
The sites where you will be warned first
The shoulder, the upper back and the chest are the classic problem areas away from the face. The skin is thick, it is under tension from ordinary movement, and scars there have a tendency to widen. They are also where most of the revisions happen.
That does not mean a cosmetic removal is refused there. What happens is a conversation:
“I warn them and show them photos of good and bad scars after mole removal. It’s then their decision.”
Mr Onur Gilleard
Being shown a poor result alongside a good one, before agreeing to anything, is the point. A patient who has seen both and still wants the mole gone is making an informed choice; one who has only seen the good outcomes is not.
“Removing a benign mole for cosmetic reasons is a perfectly legitimate choice, provided the patient understands the benefits, risks and potential for scarring.”
Mr Onur Gilleard
On the face the bar is higher. Where someone’s expectation and the scar they are realistically going to get cannot be reconciled, the removal is declined outright — a conversation that is far easier before the operation than after it.
What it comes down to
Reduced to a sentence:
“I tell patients that the least visible mark usually comes from choosing the right technique for that particular mole.”
Mr Onur Gilleard, Consultant Plastic Surgeon
Not the newest technique, and not the one with the best reputation online — the one that suits that mole, in that place, on that person. Which is why the assessment matters more than the method you arrived intending to ask for.
Your questions, answered
- Does mole removal always leave a scar?
- Yes. In Mr Gilleard’s words, “it is impossible to remove a mole without leaving some form of scar.” What changes between methods is the kind of mark — a fine line, a flat pale patch, or a change in colour — not whether there is one.
- Which method leaves the least visible mark?
- There is no single answer that holds for every mole. “The least visible mark usually comes from choosing the right technique for that particular mole” — which depends on its size, whether it is raised or flat, and where it sits. A flat mole on the forehead and a raised one on the cheek are best served by different approaches.
- Is laser mole removal scarless?
- No, and this is the most common misconception patients arrive with. Laser usually avoids a line, but it can leave a change in skin colour instead. Around 15% of moles treated with laser regrow, and about one in ten need a second session.
- Will a shave leave less of a mark than stitches?
- A shave leaves no line, which is why it looks like the gentler option. But the flat patch it leaves stays paler than the surrounding skin and is still visible at twelve months, and around one in ten shaved moles regrow. An excision leaves a longer mark but a flatter, more predictable one.
- How long does a mole removal scar take to settle?
- On the face, roughly a year. It is red and firm at one month, pink at three months with the surrounding skin back to normal, pale pink and softening at six months, and pale and soft at twelve. Judging a scar before three months is judging it too early.
- Can a scar be treated if I am unhappy with it?
- Yes. About one scar in ten is revised, most often after an excision on the trunk. The options are steroid injection, vascular laser to settle redness, fractionated CO2 laser to remodel collagen, or a combination. Six weeks is usually too early to judge, but vascular treatment can begin while a scar is still red.
- Why can I not have laser if my mole needs testing?
- Laser destroys the tissue. If a mole has to be examined under the microscope, it must be cut out so the whole lesion reaches the laboratory intact. Around a quarter of the moles removed here go for histology, and roughly twice a year a mole removed for purely cosmetic reasons returns an unexpected finding.
Share this Post
