Today, we’ll be diving deep into skin tags. We will be dealing with questions like, what are the causes of skin tags? Skin Tags Removal techniques? Who are most prone to skin tags? What can you do naturally at home to reduce skin tags? And when do you actually need to visit a doctor to get them removed? Have you ever wondered if you could snip your skin tag off with just a pair of scissors?
In this guide, we’ll be answering questions like can you snip your skin tag off with a scissors? Or is there a particular cream that you can apply on skin tag for it to fall off naturally?
Stick around so that we can explain to you why that’s a terrible idea.
Table of Contents
What are Skin Tags?
Skin tags are natural occurring small fleshy growth that hangs off the skin. Now they come in all shapes and forms.
Skin tags can be small, they can be as large as a grape, they can be flat on your skin or they can hang up on your skin. They are primarily made of collagen and blood vessels and it’s all wrapped in skin tissue. They’re not dangerous, they’re not contagious and they do not become cancer.
Most commonly you find them in a couple of areas, typically around the neck, under arms, the groin region and sometimes on the upper lids.
How Skin Tags Occur
You need to know why skin tags occur and who are actually prone to them. So here’s the real deal, skin tag occurs due to friction.
So people with more skin folds or wear tighter clothes tend to have more skin tags than other people. We also see an increase in skin tag occurrence after the age of 40.
We also see that skin tag occurs in people who are overweight because more skin folds equals more skin tags. It could be triggered by hormones, especially during pregnancy and in some families it does occur more often because there is some genetic portion to it and skin tags are actually common in people with insulin resistance and with diabetes mellitus type 2.
Common Misconception And Myth Around Skin Tags
So what if your skin type becomes more serious? Should you do something about it? Let’s look at the myths that people fall for around skin tags.
Skin tags are commonly confused with Warts
So the difference between a skin tag and a wart is that a wart is triggered by a virus known as human papillomavirus whereas a skin tag is naturally occurring and has no relationship to any bacterial viruses.
A skin tag is not contagious and it will never become cancer and last of all you do not have to remove skin tag unless of course it irritates you or is cosmetically not pleasing.
How to Get Rid of Skin Tags at home
Skin tag Removal by Ligation
So how to get rid of skin tags at home?The easiest way is to use a ligation band or a thread and tie it around the skin tag.
Tie it tight so you choke the blood supply and the skin tag without a blood supply dies off in a couple of days. So naturally small skin tags will then fall off without the need of any creams or visit to the doctor’s office.
Skin Tags Removal With Creams
However if you have tried ligating it and it doesn’t work, there are certain over-the-counter creams that you can use.
They’re primarily made of salicylic acid so it kind of burns the skin around the skin tag and chemically burning the blood supply as well. It then forms a scab and falls off within two to three weeks.
Skin Tags Removal Using Scissors
Now what happens if you just use a scissors to snip the skin tag? It will cause an immense amount of bleeding. That’s because every skin tag has blood so please skip the scissors and use other methods.
Skin Tags Removal Using Fire or Heat
Never ever use fire or heat to burn off the skin tag because you end up burning your skin as well and you might end up with first or second degree burns.
Skin Tags Removal Using Acid
And last of all never use any form of over-the-counter acids that you can find or bleach to chemically remove skin tags. Leave that to the professionals.
Quickest Way to Get Rid Of Skin Tags
Do you want to know which is the quickest way to get rid of skin tags without the scarring? Here are three surgical ways to remove skin tags at your doctor’s office.
Cryotherapy
You’re literally freezing the skin tag and over time in the next couple of days the skin tag naturally just falls off.
However, not every doctor has access to cryotherapy and a lot of doctors prefer electrocautery.
It uses electricity then which then converts the heat which zaps the skin tag, kills off the blood supply and your skin heals within three to five days.
However if the skin tag is too large, you might need a surgical removal typically done within five to seven minutes whereby the doctor would tie the skin tag up, ligate the foot of the skin tag and use the scissors to snip it off and typically they will use an electrocautery to kill off the blood supply.
However if your skin tag over time changes color and size, you might want to visit your doctor as soon as possible.
Skin Tags Prevention
So after removal of skin tag, how do you prevent the skin tags from coming back? Now you can never stop genetics but here are a couple of ways to slow down the growth or almost never get your skin tags again.
- Maintain a healthy weight. Lesser skin folds means lesser occurrence of skin tags.
- Get your blood works done. Make sure that your blood sugar and HP1c is within normal levels.
- Wear loose fitting clothes and always moisturize the areas that has friction over the armpits, the groins or anywhere with excessive skin folds.
Conclusion
Skin tags are totally harmless. It is up to you if you want to remove them or not and if you want to remove them, please do it safely. Never ever use the scissors.
