Skin Tag Removal - What Are Your Options?

There are several skin tag removal options available. Typically, skin tags are removed by a dermatologist or the family doctor in his or her office.

But increasingly, more and more people afflicted by these generally harmless but unsightly and sometimes annoying bits of hanging skin are opting for do it yourself skin tag removal techniques.

In this article we’ll address both approaches, the clinical approach and the do-it-yourself approach. But first let’s touch on a few basics about skin tags so we’re all in agreement about what they are.

A skin tag, or acrochordon, is simply a tiny benign growth that looks like a raised or hanging bit of extra skin (depending on your perspective).

These little growths are actually a small composition of fibers, ducts, fat cells, and nerve cells enveloped by skin and attached to the body by a thin stalk.

Skin tags come in different shapes and colors.

They can be darker or lighter flesh colors. They can be miniscule or as large as grapes. Babies are born free of these growths, but over time about half the people you encounter day in and day out will have developed skin tags at one time or another.

They tend to be more prevalent in middle age, but can also be found in children,  heavy young adults, and pregnant women (possibly because of elevated hormone levels during pregnancy).

It is important to remember that skin tags are not symptomatic of any illness or disease. However, because they tend to be rather ugly, and can create discomfort or pain, you might want to consider skin tag removal options.        

Skin tags are harmless but because they can appear anywhere on the body, they have the potential to mar your appearance or create great discomfort. Skin tags tend to appear most often in skin creases. The eyelids, neck, armpits, under the breasts, and the groin area are especially susceptible. Friction caused by clothing, underwear, and jewelry can irritate the area and cause redness and pain. Careless shaving or excessive friction can cause tearing and bleeding.

If you are removing a skin tag that is on your eyelid or near your eye, you may want to consider seeing an ophthalmologist, who could perform the procedure and ensure no harm is done to your eye.

Dermatologists and family doctors can perform the following procedures in their offices:

• Cyrotherapy involves freezing the skin tag with liquid nitrogen. This method can also be used in the removal of moles and warts. There may be some temporary skin discoloration. Also, the treatment may have to be repeated until the skin tag falls off.
  
  
• Cauterization involves using electric currents to burn off the skin tag. This method can be tricky as surrounding skin tissue may inadvertently be burned.
  
  
• Excision is a clinical skin tag removal method that involves using a scissors or scalpel to cut off the skin tag. Local anesthesia (lidocaine) may be used to numb the affected area for single skin tags. A topical numbing cream may be used for areas containing many skin tags. Excision may lead to some pain and bleeding, nonetheless, especially when removing multiple skin tags.
  

One home remedy treatment involves tying a small piece of dental floss or thread around the skin tag stalk to strangle it. After a few days the skin tag should fall off. Or use a less awkward approach and apply natural essential oils.

Skin tag removal will not lead to the growth of more skin tags that the person would not develop anyway. Some people are simply more prone to them than others. Atypically shaped or larger growths should be examined under a microscope by a pathologist to verify the growth is nothing more than a skin tag and to rule out cancer, which in extremely rare cases has been found in abnormal skin tags.

Your average common skin tag can be removed by a doctor. However, in the vast majority of instances, skin tag removal is not covered by medical insurance plans as it is considered a cosmetic procedure.

The cost, the inconvenience of going to the doctor’s office, and the increased availability of safe, easy and natural home remedies are all factors that have led increasing numbers of people to go the self treatment route when it comes to skin tag removal.