What are skin tags?
Skin tags are very common, completely harmless growths of skin.
What do skin tags look like?
They tend to be brown or skin coloured and can look like they are hanging of the skin. If they become irritated or catch on clothing or jewellery then can become red in colour. You often find them in areas where the skin rubs or in skin folds e.g. on the neck, under the arms, in the groin and around the eyelids and patients often find them irritating. They tend to vary in size from 1mm to 5cm and are more often found in people who have type 2 diabetes and those who are obese.
Are skin tags dangerous?
No. Skin tags are harmless and do not turn in to skin cancers. They are not infectious (that means you can not pass them from one person to another).
How are skin tags diagnosed?
They are generally easily diagnosed from their typical appearance. They are equally likely to occur in men and women and tend to be more likely to occur during pregnancy
Should I have my skin tags removed?
Skin tags are harmless. If they are causing any of the following problems:
- Itching
- Catching on clothing / jewellery
- Obscuring your vision if on your eyelid
- Feels painful
Then it is worth considering having them removed.
How are skin tags treated?
It is quite simple to remove them and the two commonest ways we treat them are:
Cryotherapy. This is the process used to remove certain skin lesions, by freezing them. The commonest used product is liquid nitrogen. This is sprayed onto the skin using a canister or applying it with a cotton wool bud. This may require more than one treatment session.
Curettage is the process of removing them by injecting a small amount of anaesthetic into the skin to numb the area and then “scraping” or “shaving” it off with a small surgical instrument called a curette.
Once removed skin tags tend not to come back, though you may develop them elsewhere on your body.
Is your skin tag removal near me?
We serve patients from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, London and are within easy reach of:
Ascot – Beaconsfield – Bracknell – Bray – Cookham – Henley – Maidenhead – Marlow – Reading – Sonning – Slough -Stoke Poges – Sunningdale – Wentworth – Windsor
