Skin tags are among the most common reasons people book a dermatology appointment, and among the least worrying things a doctor sees. They are benign growths, they are not contagious, and they do not turn into anything dangerous.
What brings people in is usually practical rather than medical. A tag that catches on a necklace, sits under a bra strap, or gets nicked shaving becomes an irritation worth dealing with.
What is a skin tag?
A small, soft growth of skin attached by a narrow stalk. Medically they are called acrochordons. They are made of the same tissue as the skin around them, loose collagen fibres and blood vessels wrapped in ordinary skin, which is why they match your skin tone or sit slightly darker.
Size ranges from barely visible to around the width of a pencil eraser, though larger ones do occur. The stalk is the defining feature: a skin tag hangs, where most other lesions sit flat against the skin or raised from it without a neck.
Where they appear
- The neck, particularly where collars and necklaces sit
- The underarms
- The eyelids and around the eyes
- Under the breasts and along the bra line
- The groin and inner thighs
The pattern is not random. Skin tags form where skin rubs against skin or against clothing, which is why the list above is essentially a map of the body’s folds and friction points.
Why do people get them?
Friction is the main driver, which explains both the locations and why they become more common with age as skin loses elasticity. Weight is a factor for the same reason, since more skin folds mean more places for rubbing to occur.
There is a genetic element, so people often have a parent who had them in the same places. Hormonal change matters too, and pregnancy is a common time for them to appear, sometimes settling afterwards and sometimes not.
One point worth knowing rather than worrying about: a sudden crop of many new tags is occasionally associated with underlying metabolic changes, and it is a reasonable thing to mention to your GP if it happens. A few appearing gradually over years is simply ordinary.
Are they dangerous?
No. Skin tags are benign and they do not become cancerous.
The important caveat is not about skin tags but about what else can look like one. A growth that bleeds without being caught on something, changes colour, grows noticeably, becomes painful, or looks different from your others should be examined by a doctor rather than assumed to be a tag. That is not a reason for alarm; it is a reason to have it looked at rather than removed by someone who has not examined it.
This is also why removal at Pulse Light Clinic is doctor-led. Part of what you are paying for is someone confirming what the thing actually is before it comes off.
Why not to remove one at home
The internet is full of methods, and they share three problems.
Infection is the first. Skin tags contain a blood supply, and cutting or tying one off outside a clinical setting introduces bacteria into an open wound in a warm skin fold, which is close to ideal conditions for it to go wrong.
Scarring is the second. A tag removed cleanly at the base usually leaves nothing. One torn, part-removed or repeatedly irritated frequently leaves a mark that is more visible than what was there before, particularly on the face and neck.
The third is the one that matters most. Removing a growth yourself means nobody has looked at it. If the thing you removed was not a skin tag, you have destroyed the evidence and delayed a diagnosis. The removal kits sold online do not include the part where somebody qualified examines what they are treating.
How are they removed in clinic?
The method depends on size, position and how many there are, and it is decided when the doctor sees them rather than when you book.
Cryotherapy
Liquid nitrogen freezes the tag, and it falls away over the following days as the tissue dies. It suits small tags and it is quick, though the sensation is a sharp cold sting for a few seconds. A small blister afterwards is normal.
Excision
The tag is removed at the base with sterile surgical scissors or a blade under local anaesthetic. It is immediate, the tag is gone when you leave, and it suits larger tags or ones where the tissue should be sent for examination.
Electrosurgery
Heat delivered through a fine probe removes the tag and seals the small vessels at the same time, which controls bleeding. It works well on tags in awkward places such as the eyelids, where precision matters more than speed.
Several tags can usually be dealt with in one appointment, which is why people often arrive intending to remove one and leave having dealt with all of them.
What happens afterwards?
Very little, which is the point. There may be a small scab or crust for a week or so, and the site should be kept clean and dry and left alone rather than picked. Cryotherapy sites can stay slightly pink or pale for longer, particularly on deeper skin tones, and that is worth discussing beforehand if it concerns you.
Most people return to normal activity the same day. Removing a tag does not stop new ones forming elsewhere, since the friction that caused the first one has not gone anywhere, so some people come back occasionally over the years.
Skin tags, warts and moles are not the same thing
They get confused constantly, and the treatment for each is different. A skin tag hangs from a stalk and is soft. A wart is firm and rough, caused by a virus, and can spread. A mole is pigmented, usually flat or slightly raised, and is the one that genuinely needs monitoring over time.
If you are not certain which you are looking at, that uncertainty is itself the reason to have it examined rather than to pick a removal method.
Booking an appointment
Removal is straightforward, and the useful part of the appointment is the assessment that comes first. Pulse Light Clinic is CQC-registered and doctor-and-nurse-led, and has been treating patients in London since 2001.
Book a consultation to have any skin lesion examined and removal discussed.
