Skin tags are common skin growths that can develop on different parts of your body. Although they are not dangerous, they can be unsightly and even catch on clothing and bleed or rub against other parts of your body and cause irritation. Before you decide whether you need to get rid of your skin tags, or are still unsure whether you have skin tags or want to avoid them in the future, you may have come to this page to find out what causes these skin tags.
As you will see, in answer to the question of what causes skin tags, there are several different risk factors. Pregnant women, people who are overweight or obese, or have hormonal or steroid imbalances are among the people most likely to have skin tags.
What are skin tags?
Skin tags are unsightly, but harmless growths that develop and hang from your skin, as the name suggests. You normally get skin tags under the breasts, groin, armpits, and on your neck. They can grow in other places too. As well as being harmless, they are also not uncomfortable or painful. This means that they generally don’t need to have any real medical attention.
However, if your skin tags are troubling you, there are several medical options you can choose from. As this is considered more of a cosmetic procedure, skin tag removal is rarely available through the NHS. Therefore you will need to look for a private GP practice or plastic surgery practice that offers the service like Linia Skin Clinic.
What are the symptoms of skin tags?
There are not many symptoms associated with skin tags. Sometimes, though, when they rub against your jewellery, clothes, or skin, they can cause discomfort or even bleeding.
What causes skin tags?
It is believed that acrochordons or skin tags develop as a result of the body producing additional cells in the uppermost layers of skin. Skin tags tend to grow in skin folds and body parts where there are natural movements that cause two parts of your skin to rub against one another.
Risk factors for skin tags
Although anyone can suffer from skin tags, there do seem to be several key risk factors that can increase the chance of people developing these unattractive and annoying growths.
- Obese and overweight people
- People who suffer from either type 1 or type 2 diabetes
- For women who are pregnant, this is possibly due to the changes in hormones and the increased levels of growth hormones associated with pregnancy
- Many people with some kind of HPV or human papillomavirus
- People who have sex-steroid imbalances, particularly if there are changes to their levels of progesterone and estrogen
- If they have close family members with skin tags
- High cholesterol levels and dyslipidemia
- High blood pressure, also known as hypertension
- Skin tags have also been connected to suffering from insulin resistance, and raised high-sensitive C-reactive protein, which is a marker for inflammation.
What other conditions might look like skin tags?
As is the case with a lot of skin conditions and growths on your skin, skin tags are often mistaken for other conditions. These can include
- Seborrheic keratosis is a skin disease that causes spots that resemble warts and look a little like skin tags
- Skin cancer
- Genital warts and other types of warts
- Moles
Do skin tags need treatment?
The general advice most doctors and other medical practitioners will give you is that if your skin tags are not bothering you too much or they are not causing any discomfort or pain, then there is no need to have them treated. Often, skin tags will fall off all by themselves anyway.
You may want to talk to a private healthcare professional or plastic surgeon though about the possibility of having a skin tag removal procedure, if:
- The appearance of the skin tag does bother you
- The skin tag bleeds easily or has become noticeably more irritated
Are skin tags cancerous?
A common misunderstanding of skin tags is that they can be cancerous. To be clear, skin tags are benign growths that most consist of collagen, one of the proteins found naturally throughout your body, in blood vessels and elsewhere.
However, as skin tags can be mistaken for cancerous growths like moles, it is best to get your skin tags diagnosed properly by a medical professional
Are at-home skin tag removal products safe to use?
If you carry out searches for skin tag removal products there are many different options available. It is important to note that most medical professionals will stress that although they may seem convenient, almost all at-home treatments are unsafe and should be avoided. Some of the major risks and complications that come with at-home skin tag removals are:
- Damage to nearby healthy skin
- Incorrect self-diagnosis of skin tags and using a skin tag removal product to get rid of them, lead to the removal of something far more dangerous, such as a cancerous mole.
- Incomplete removal of skin tags, which means they are more likely to regrow
- Infections
- Excessive bleeding
- Scars
How are skin tags treated?
As we have already noted, many skin tags will drop off of their own accord in time.
However, if this does not happen or you do not have the patience to wait or they are a more serious problem for you personally, either cosmetically or because they cause discomfort and pain, there are a variety of different skin tag removal procedures you can choose from.
These include
- Cauterising (which involves using electrical energy to burn them)
- Cutting them off with either a surgical scalpel or a pair of surgical scissors
- Freezing them until they fall off using liquid nitrogen
Conclusion
As skin tag removal is normally not a required treatment, you should think carefully before you go ahead with any skin tag removal procedure. If you have thought about it and considered all the options and want your skin tag removed, why not give the team at Linia Skin Clinic more information about our skin tag removal treatment or book a consultation appointment with one of our qualified, trained and skilled cosmetic surgeons?
