Skin tags develop in both men and women as they grow older. They are skin coloured or darker and range in size from 1mm to 5cm. They are most often found in the skin folds (neck, armpits, groin). They tend to be more numerous in obese persons and in those with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
It is not known what causes skin tags. However, the following factors may play a role: Chaffing and irritation from skin rubbing together, high levels of growth factors, particularly during pregnancy or in acromegaly (gigantism), insulin resistance (syndrome X), human papillomavirus (wart virus).
Removing a skin tag on your own can cause bleeding or infection if you do not use medically sterile equipment and proper anesthesia. If your skin tags become bothersome we offer several different methods to remove skin tags including: freezing the tag off with liquid nitrogen, burning the tag using electrocautery, removing the tag using numbing and medical scissors.
