If you’re wondering how to remove skin tags, you’re not alone.
According to board-certified dermatologistLaurel Naversen Geraghty, skin-tag removal is something patients ask her constantly.
“People come to me every day asking, ‘What can I do about these skin tags?
Getty Images/Clara Hendler
How can I get rid of them?'”
What, Exactly, Is a Skin Tag?
“Skin tags are extremely common and completely benign fleshy overgrowths of the skin.
Nguyen also notes that obesity and pregnancy might contribute to the development of skin tags, as well.
What Increases the Risk of Getting Skin Tags?
That being said, there are a few factors that can be linked to the development of skin tags.
Obesity and associated skin friction is a major player in developing skin tags.
Skin is more likely to rub against itself, and that friction stimulates skin-tag growth.
“The mother can grow all kinds of things on her skin during pregnancy.
Moles on the abdomen can change, skin tags can form or become enlarged.
Skin tags have also been linked to diabetes.
“We know that diabetics are more prone to them.
(Spoiler alert: You shouldn’t do it at home.)
It’s sprayed out of a can and is approximately -320 degrees Fahrenheit.
It only takes a second to do,” says Geraghty.
Burning the base also puts a little scab on it.”
Any of this can help the case if you’re fighting for your health insurance to foot the bill.
These patients often end up with a sore, red, inflamed, tender bump, she says.
“you could’t make tissue disappear by putting a little vinegar on it.
It just doesnt work,” she says.
“You really need that to physically be removed.”
Common skin conditions that aren’t skin tags but look like skin tags areseborrheic keratosesand neurofibromas.
Seborrheic keratoses are extremely common on the neck.
Like skin tags, these often form in areas of high friction.
“Neurofibromas are just little skin-colored, fleshy papules.
These little bumps are very common,” says Geraghty.
“Neurofibroma lesions can happen even without that syndrome, and typically that’s the case.”
