There's a new, painless treatment for a common skin growth and the medication was studied in New Orleans, along with other test sites.
Doctors say it is now quick and easy to get rid of unsightly spots.
Errolyn Letellier first noticed a spot on her abdomen 20 years ago when she was only 30. It concerned her.
"I had it checked for cancer and they said, 'Oh no, it's not anything cancerous. You don't have to worry about it,'" Letellier remembers.
Errolyn has seborrheic keratosis. Some patients jokingly call them barnacles. It's something people with every skin type, and of every pigmentation, can get. They can appear anywhere on the body and it's hereditary.
"Several people in my family do have spots on their face and on their body also," Letellier said.
"Over their lifetime they get quite a few," explained Board Certified Dermatologist Dr. Mary Lupo. "I always emphasize to patients who come in concerned about these lesions, that these lesions are benign and they are not malignant and they are not even premalignant."
But they can be raised and scaly and pigmented and Errolyn had to constantly cover the ones on her face with makeup. But now there is a new, first-ever, FDA approved quick treatment that can usually get rid of them with one office visit. Dr. Lupo was part of the clinical trial.
"What we found was this particular product was extremely well tolerated along all skin types," Dr. Lupo said.
Usually they have to be frozen or burned or scraped off. That was uncomfortable and could leave the skin discolored, either lighter or darker. But now with ESKATA, they are just touched with a handheld dispenser of medicine and will scab over and fall off.
"It was a little tingling at first, and it starting to turn to itchy, but it's nothing. I wouldn't even describe it as discomfort at all," said Letellier after the office treatment.
It is recommended that a dermatologist diagnosis the condition to make sure it is not something more serious.
Insurance companies consider this treatment cosmetic and will not pay, so the medication is most cost-effective when several lesions are removed at one time.