Skin tags are identified visually. They’re typically the same color as your skin, though sometimes they may appear brown. They can get to 2-3 mm in diameter and as small as 1 mm across.

The smaller the tag, the harder it’ll be to see it. If the skin tag is tiny, it’ll look like a raised bump on the surface of the skin.

In some cases, the skin tag will be twisted, in which case it’ll turn red or black due to its limited blood supply.

Skin tags are typically caused by friction between neighboring areas of the skin. They may also be caused by the rubbing of certain fabrics against the skin.

Skin tags are more commonly found in people struggling with obesity and are often found in older patients, as the skin deteriorates the older you get.

Patients with Type 2 diabetes might develop skin tags in reaction to high blood sugar and insulin resistance.

Skin tags can occur anywhere on the body, but they’re more likely to occur on the neck or armpit. Skin tags can also appear on your eyelid, upper chest, under the breasts for women, buttocks, and groin folds. In infants, skin tags might occur where skin rubs against skin, like the neck or stomach.

Downingtown Family Practice provides effective, quick, and painless solutions to treating skin tags. A minor cryotherapeutic procedure is required to eliminate the tag.

The procedure uses liquid nitrogen to freeze the growth before it can oxygenate. Eventually, the skin tag flakes away.

You might also consider scalpel removal, electrosurgery, and ligation to get rid of skin tags. No medication is required to treat skin tags.

While skin tag treatment is curative, it doesn’t preclude others from growing back in different parts of your body. A skin tag may also grow in the same area as a previous one.

Each skin tag requires its own procedure, and there’s no limit as to how many skin tag removal treatments you can have. Book an appointment by phone or online with Downingtown Family Practice if you’ve noticed these small benign growths on your body.