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The human body has numerous benign skin lesions, ranging from skin tags, moles, to benign lentigines.
While you may have heard of moles and lentigines (which closely resemble moles), you might not be familiar with skin tags. Whether you’ve seen skin tags before or not, it is not uncommon for us to develop them.
Skin tags are soft, benign, or noncancerous growths that protrude out of your skin. They are caused by extra cells that grow at the top layer of the skin. As skin tags are noncancerous, they are harmless and won't result in any significant health problems. With that said, they can be irritating as they can get caught on clothing and not very aesthetically pleasing.
Thankfully, skin tags are easy to remove.
According to studies, skin tags are highly prevalent and currently affect nearly half of the population globally. Even though they can affect anyone, they tend to be more common in older adults, patients with diabetes, and overweight individuals.
| Moles | Warts | Skin Tags |
| Usually go deep into the skin | Usually go deep into the skin | Remain on the skin surface |
| Hair often grows from them | No hair grows from them | No hair grows from it |
| They are not contagious | Highly contagious | Not contagious |
| Occur in body areas exposed to the sun | Occur in body areas with relatively thick skin | Appear in areas of friction |
| Brown | No distinct color (colorless) | Usually tend to assume the skin color |
| Triggered by genetics and sun damage | Caused by virus | Caused by friction |
| The skin remains soft | Appear as hard bumps that lie deep in your skin | Appear as rough skin and tend to appear on the chest, neck, back, armpits, in the groin and under the breasts |
Skin tags often don't result in any pain, but they can be irritating, particularly if something such as your skin, jewelry, or even clothing rubs against them. Removing them can give you much-needed relief.
Consider skin tag removal if your skin tag:
Electrocautery is a procedure that uses heat from a light electrical current to gently heat your skin and destroy skin tags. It is a highly effective treatment technique for skin tag removal. At Dr. Ben Medical, electrocautery is our preferred method of skin tag removal.
We will administer a topical anesthetic to reduce any potential discomfort before cauterizing the skin tags with numerous touches of the electrocautery device. Those tags will almost immediately become dry and black, ultimately falling off your skin.
All skin tag removals at our clinic are performed by our dermatologists.
skin tag elimination treatment performed by our highly specialized dermatologists.
Cryotherapy is a fast, in-office procedure that involves the use of extreme cold (liquid nitrogen) to freeze off the skin tags. This keeps the area frozen for a duration long enough to effectively destroy the lesions while leaving the treated area unaffected to reduce the risk of scarring.
Litigation involves placing a removal band at the base of the skin tag to cut off blood supply to the tags. In the absence of blood supply, the cells and tissues die, and the tags will eventually fall off.
Also referred to as surgical removal, excision involves surgically removing the skin tags. Results from excision are permanent. However, there is a slight risk of minor bleeding!
At Dr. Ben Medical, our preferred treatment for skin tag removal is electrocautery.
Electrocautery is non-surgical, fast, and does not cause any pain. To prevent any discomfort, we will administer a local anaesthetic to the treatment site.
There is minimal to no downtime associated with electrocautery skin tag removal
The process will take about 15-30 minutes.
There are no significant side effects associated with electrocautery as a mode of skin tag removal. In the hands of an inexperienced provider, however, there could be the risk of small scars or marks. Of course, there could be some very small scars or marks left where the skin tags were. However, generally, this treatment guarantees the most effective and aesthetically pleasing results!
Skin tags removed by electrocautery will not grow back. However, that does not mean you will not develop skin tags in other areas in your body; when that happens, you can always opt to have them removed again.
While there are numerous over-the-counter skin tag removal techniques out there, we strongly discourage people from removing skin tags on their own. Home-based remedies can cause scarring, infection, and excess bleeding.
Some common ways to remove skin tags at home and their implications:
- Removal creams: It is highly recommended that you avoid products that feature salicylic, and tea tree oil among other potentially harmful chemicals. Such products will not only cause skin irritation, but can also trigger contact dermatitis.
- Apple cider vinegar: It is believed that the acidity of the apple cider vinegar helps break down the tissues that surround the skin tags, forcing them to easily fall off. However, this method is not safe at all.
-Garlic: Garlic can result in skin irritation and infection.
-Iodine: There is very little scientific evidence to show that iodine can remove skin tags.
