Can you safely remove skin tags yourself?
Skin tags are harmless growths that you may have been suffering with for sometime, or may appear seemingly overnight. Although they are harmless and shouldn’t cause you any adverse health concerns, they can make you feel self conscious and affect how you feel about yourself, especially if they are in a place where they can’t be easily concealed.
What is a skin tag?
There are many sorts of different lesions that can appear on the skin, but not all of them can be defined as being skin tags. It can be confusing to know if you have a skin tag or something else, but as a rule of thumb a skin tag is a lesion that has a stalk that comes away from the skin. If you are unsure what type of lesion you have, an experienced dermatology-led service can help to identify it for you.
Why am I getting skin tags all of a sudden?
Skin tags can appear for a number of different reasons, for example as we get older sometimes skin tags show up. It’s not always clear why a skin tag has appeared however they do quite often show up in areas where the skin rubs together, such as under the armpits, on the thighs, neck and eyelids.
People who are overweight or struggling with obesity may also get skin tags where their skin folds together. Pregnant women who are experiencing hormonal changes and people suffering from type 2 diabetes may also be more likely to get skin tags.
Should I remove my skin tags?
There isn’t any medical reason why you need to remove your skin tags, but if they are causing you concern or distress there are methods that can be safely used to remove them, and the process is relatively quick and pain free!
Can I get my skin tags removed on the NHS?
Unfortunately skin tag removal is considered cosmetic surgery and this type of treatment is not covered on the NHS. There are however experienced dermatology-led services such as London Real Skin who are able to remove skin tags.
At London Real Skin in Holborn our team of trained highly trained practitioners have years of experience in removing skin tags.
How are skin tags removed?
You should always visit a trained practitioner to get your skin tags removed. Skin tags are vascular, which means they have a blood source and sometimes they also have nerves. If you try to remove your skin tags at home it will not only be very painful, but you can risk infections, uncontrolled bleeding and scarring.
A trained practitioner will remove your skin tags in a clean and sterile clinical environment. Skin tags can be removed by freezing, using heat or even by using surgical scissors or a scalpel. Each case is unique and only a trained professional can offer the correct solution that will deliver the best results.
What are the side effects of skin tag removal?
There can be side effects when skin tags are removed. Most prominently the removal of skin tags can lead to scarring or hyperpigmentation in the area where that tag has been removed. This is more likely to occur for people who have darker skin tones, and is another example of why it is important to receive professional advice and not try removing a skin tag yourself.
At London Real Skin we can identify the likelihood of whether removing your skin tag will leave a scar or mark and we can offer treatments, such as ACP (Sterex) electrolysis alongside preparatory topical treatments to reduce the risk of permanent marks or scars. If you would like to find out more about how we can safely identify and remove skin tags or any other sort of lesions you can book a free no obligation consultation here.
