Learn more about Skin Tag Removal
Skin tags are very common soft harmless lesions that appear to hang off the skin. They are also described as:
- Acrochordons
- Papillomas
- Fibroepithelial polyps
- Soft fibromas
- Pedunculated (this means they are on a stalk)
- Filiform (this means they are thread-like)
Skin tags develop in both men and women as they grow older. They are skin coloured or darker and range in size from 1mm to 5cm. They are most often found in the skin folds (neck, armpits, groin).
They tend to be more numerous in obese persons and in those with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Skin Tag Removal Treatment Options
- Cutting it off. Skin tags may be snipped off with a scalpel or surgical scissors. Some moles can be “shaved” off flush with the skin. Other moles may have cells that go underneath the skin, so your doctor might make a deeper cut to remove the entire mole and prevent it from growing back. This cut may require stitches.
- Freezing it with liquid nitrogen. Your doctor will swab or spray a small amount of super-cold liquid nitrogen on the mole or skin tag. You might have a small blister where the mole or skin tag was, but it will heal on its own.
- Burning it off. An electric current passes through a wire that becomes hot and is used to burn off the upper layers of the skin. You may need more than one treatment to remove a mole. Skin tags are removed by burning through the narrow stem that attaches them to the skin. The heat helps prevent bleeding.